I heard a ridiculous story this morning on my local news. They reported that gas was going to go back up in February because apparently there are seasonal blends. Huh! According to my local news the summer blend is more expensive than the winter blend. Maybe people are that brainwashed to believe this b.s. Since as far back as I can remember the excuse for the price difference of gas was always credited to supply and demand. More people are traveling in the summer thus more gas is needed. I'm no expert in gasoline but I worked at a gas station for five years of my life and I can personally say they never ever brought us a summer blend or a winter blend. I was the store manager and dealt with gas companies on a daily basis. Some of them are still acquaintances of mine. We had many talks about pricing and never was it because of a seasonal blend. If there really are seasonal blends and production costs are the difference in paying $3.80 a gallon versus $1.90 a gallon then I say why in the world is this the first time I paid $1.90 a gallon in ten or more years? Obviously this is b.s. gas prices are low for one reason and that is to crush the Russian economy and for no other ridiculous reasons. I reluctantly give this link for people to read. I'm afraid you will be no smarter for reading it and you will never get the time wasted back. None the less http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/fuel-consumption/summer-fuel.htm
That has been the case for nearly twenty years now. Seasonal blends, and blends for high altitudes have been around since the 1990's. The difference in retail price is measured in pennies. Oil prices are low because the Saudi's decided to feed a glut in order to punish the Russians, and drive the more highly leveraged American shale frackers out of the market. Once the fracking business is consolidated, and safely under the control of the majors, oil prices will go up.
I test petroleum for a living and April is our busiest month, year after year for decades when oil refiners want us to certify that their oil meets EPA standards for summer blend. If you don't know what you're talking about, don't start a thread showing the world how ignorant you are. Or at least take the time to look it up on the internet before getting outraged over (*)(*)(*)(*) you know nothing about.
There's that too. The Saudis have always know that thier interests and Exxon's are one in the same. (after all, Exxon is one of the major partners in Saudi Aramco).
Now, why would anyone do that. I don't know the source of this story, as the OP did not cite one. But right wing media may latch on to this as evidence of yet another government incursion into your "freedom", as if incandescent light bulbs weren't enough. Certainly, they'll blame Obama, facts or no facts.
So that makes the difference in price? B.S.! I have heard every reason for price increase and never in the 5 years I ordered gasoline was it because of a blend of gas. (unless it was for octane) You very well may add something to the gas to make it a blend but it doesn't make the drastic price change. Are you saying it does? If you are then you full of s hit.
It was a left wing news channel affiliated with NBC. local channel 15. Like other lies they tell they don't put them on their website.
Sometimes it is a supply-demand thing until the right blend fills the reserves. Personally, I look forward to the summer blends. Don't know why, but I getter better mileage than I do with the winter blends.
According to some report's I read the summer blend gives you better gas mileage, but I have little faith in that. For one winter weather by default costs more to drive in. Most people warm up their vehicles and bad weather and roads slows you down making your gas use go up not the blend.
That's wierd. Two years ago the change to summer gas was at the end of April. http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=11031
I'm not denying the blend thing I was at first but apparently it's a real thing. I am very much denying that it makes a huge difference in price. If it was the real reason for a major hike then yesterday morning would not have been the first time I heard of it. I managed two different gas station's from 1999-2002 , 2011-2013 price increase was for supply and demand, higher taxes, spills, infrastructure, war, lack of production (refineries shut down) natural disasters, and just about every other excuse you can think of except a seasonal blend. That is "weird" especially since these blends have been around since 1990.
I think it is the blend in relation to the temperature I think. My mileage started dropping a couple m/gal as soon as the switchover happened and has been pretty consistently off compared to summer. I don't really warm up my car and we haven't had any bad weather to speak of this winter.
It has nothing to do with gas mileage and everything to do with Ozone. And by the way the Ozone they are talking about being bad at ground level isn't the same chemical compound as the stuff they want to protect in the upper atmosphere. The stuff in the upper atmosphere is O3 a high energy oxygen molecule created by the impact of photons on O2 molecules in the upper atmosphere. What they are talking about is a noxious mix of various oxides of nitrogen and sulfur. You can limit the amount of these produced by adding certain chemicals to gasoline. However adding the chemicals adds cost.
Summer blend is and has been mandated by the EPA for years to meet certain environmental standards in benzene, olephins, sulfur, etc. Refiners have to treat their product with costly chemicals to make sure they are in compliance. The cut off date is still the end of April, and then refiners get a daily fine after that until their product is tested and certified to meet EPA regulations. Look up "VOC slate" on Google for more information. That, accompanied with higher demand in the summer months due to travel are what increase the price of gasoline.