REFINERY BREAKDOWNS BAD NEWS FOR DRIVERS.Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer Just when it appeared gasoline prices had peaked, California drivers got a double dose of bad news Thursday with reports of breakdowns at two refineries that could tighten supplies and send the price of a gallon of regular roaring past the $3 a gallon mark. After hitting a record high of $2.805 on Monday, prices inched down slightly more than a cent, to $2.794, by Thursday, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the Automobile Club of Southern California The Automobile Club of Southern California was founded December 13, 1900 in Los Angeles as one of the nation's first motor clubs dedicated to improving roads, proposing traffic laws and improvement of overall driving conditions. . This led to ever-so-brief optimism that the summer run-up had run its course, only to be dashed by news of a fire at Tesoro Corp.'s Martinez refinery. There also were reports that Shell Oil unexpectedly shut down machinery at its facility in Martinez as well, although the company would not confirm the information. After the news, the state's rumor-roiled spot market shot up 13 cents in one day, leading Oil Price Information Service West Coast market editor Denton Cinquegrana to predict a quick hike at the pump. ``It's going to get insaner,'' said Cinquegrana, coining a new word to describe the famously volatile California market. ``There's certainly the potential for $3 (per gallon). A few months ago, I would have said no way, but at this point, I wouldn't be surprised.'' Within a few days, retail prices should begin rising. Additionally, he said that rather than the traditional decline after Labor Day Labor Day, holiday celebrated in the United States and Canada on the first Monday in September to honor the laborer. It was inaugurated by the Knights of Labor in 1882 and made a national holiday by the U.S. Congress in 1894. , price declines would have to wait until mid- October. With motorists already fretting about high prices affecting their driving vacations, the interruption hits at a particularly bad time. ``This is not good at all,'' said Paul Gonzales Paul Garza Gonzales (born April 18, 1964 in East Los Angeles, California) was an American boxer, who won the light flyweight gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics. Amateur Career , a spokesman for the Auto Club. ``We're in a really precarious position in California, using 45 million gallons a day and producing only 43 million if everything's working. If our own sources are curtailed, it puts us in a world of hurt.'' Tesoro spokesman Jon Ballesteros confirmed that the company's Golden Eagle refinery's fluid catalytic converter catalytic converter: see internal-combustion engine. catalytic converter In automobiles, a component of emission control systems used to reduce the discharge of noxious gases from the internal-combustion engine. was out of commission after an hourlong fire Wednesday afternoon. At top capacity, the unit processes Unit processes Processes that involve making chemical changes to materials, as a result of chemical reaction taking place. For instance, in the combustion of coal, the entering and leaving materials differ from each other chemically: coal and air enter, and 66,500 barrels of gasoline per day. Ballesteros said the company is unable to say when it would be back online until it completes a damage assessment. Shell, which OPIS OPIS Oil Price Information Service OPIS Ocean Planning Information System (US NOAA) OPIS Online Procurement Information System OPIS Online Planning Information Service OPIS Optical Path Integration Solutions reported lost a hydrocracker unit, refused to confirm the status of its Martinez refinery. In California's nervous market, however, even the hint of trouble pushes prices up - and traders reacted accordingly Thursday. A prolonged outage would be another unfortunate development for the state's diesel drivers, who have suffered for weeks as a result of the shutdown of a unit at Chevron's El Segundo El Segundo (ĕl sēgŭn`dō), industrial city (1990 pop. 15,223), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1917. Its products include navigation and computer systems, aircraft parts, office machines, telephone apparatus, and refinery earlier this month. While diesel prices have slid somewhat, dipping to $3.095 Thursday from Saturday's peak of $3.13, Cinquegrana said they'd march back up if Shell lost some diesel production. ``Every time there's bad news, the next wave of price increases occurs,'' said Andre van der Valk Van der Valk was a British television series made by Thames Television for the ITV network. It starred Barry Foster in the title role as Dutch detective Commissaris Piet van der Valk. , president of the service station owners trade group AuTO-Ca. and owner of four San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. stations. ``The normal pattern would have been that it should have softened up and we could have been 5 cents cheaper by the holiday, but with the refinery problems, we couldn't do it.'' Brent Hopkins, (818) 713-3738 brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): chart Chart: MORE GAS PAINS SOURCE: fuelgaugereport.com Daily News |
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