Get Ready for $4 Gasoline!

[Jersey mike]

Could one solution be government intervention in California and opening up refineries that have been closed, I don’t know but I like the sound of it.

Government run refineries. Seems like that was tried somewhere. Like Venezuela!

Lately there have been some articles about how California gets over 40% of its gasoline these days, since they've closed more refineries and aren't connected to many pipelines. It gets refined on the gulf coast, then shipped to the Bahamas. Next it's re-exported to California via the Panama Canal. This is because of a 106 year old law that requires cargo shipped between US ports to use US flagged vessels. Re-exporting works around that law.

https://nypost.com/2026/02/16/us-news/desperate-california-now-shipping-oil-from-the-bahamas-using-bizarre-loophole/

After 50 years, the US is finally building a new refinery. It will be optimized for the lighter sweet crude typically produced from the shale formations that now dominate US production. Groundbreaking for the new Texas facility is scheduled in just a few months.

Doesn’t the President or the government have the authority during times of conflict or times of national emergency to apply force on private industry to due what it can to help the nation.

[old2soon]

     The loves here in Willow Springs is $4.95 a gal fer diesel and I believe $ 3.80 fer 87 octane. Somewhere in West Plains this A M 87 octane was $3.96 a gal. Shot right past the 2s fer the first numeral of the price!  And like most here just cuz the price per gal increases my MPG do NOT increase at all!  But like all the other times I'll adjust as best I Know how.  RIDE SAFE.

[Timbo1]

Let us not forget the past so easily.  The liberal media sure makes a big deal out of the recent spike in gas prices but were silent when gas was over $5 a gallon under the previous administration.  At least now there's a good reason for it and I appreciate our troops taking care of business for us.

U.S. Energy Administration

[Jersey mike]

The President has said he’s going to release from our strategic oil reserves 172 million barrels.

This I’m not thrilled about. We are far from a crisis situation and our reserves are already are half and will now be lowered.

It was said when the Biden administration reduced the reserve level that it may have impacted and weakened the integrity of the underground storage wells, thus draw down can’t make things better.

When oil tanked during Covid, Trump had the foresight to want to buy oil at the dirt cheap prices of around $35 a barrel but our super smart people in charge of the purse strings denied that idea. Now we’re going to be at around just under 300 million barrels in our reserves when this draw down is finished.

Now the President has said he’s will be replacing what is taken out plus an extra 20% with zero cost to we the people, but it won’t be all at once, it will be spread out over time.

[Hook#3287]

The President has said he’s going to release from our strategic oil reserves 172 million barrels.

This I’m not thrilled about. We are far from a crisis situation and our reserves are already are half and will now be lowered.

It was said when the Biden administration reduced the reserve level that it may have impacted and weakened the integrity of the underground storage wells, thus draw down can’t make things better.

When oil tanked during Covid, Trump had the foresight to want to buy oil at the dirt cheap prices of around $35 a barrel but our super smart people in charge of the purse strings denied that idea. Now we’re going to be at around just under 300 million barrels in our reserves when this draw down is finished.

Now the President has said he’s will be replacing what is taken out plus an extra 20% with zero cost to we the people, but it won’t be all at once, it will be spread out over time.

I agree, we are not in a crisis and this looks like a political move in my eyes.  Uncharacteristic for President Trump.

I thought I remembered first President Trump stocking up at $25. per barrel before Bumbling Biden open the spigot, depleting the reserves for political gain.

I hope Press Secretary Karoline  Leavitt gets the opportunity to address this, she'll straighten the idiots out.

[F6Dave]

Could one solution be government intervention in California and opening up refineries that have been closed, I don’t know but I like the sound of it.

Government run refineries. Seems like that was tried somewhere. Like Venezuela!

Lately there have been some articles about how California gets over 40% of its gasoline these days, since they've closed more refineries and aren't connected to many pipelines. It gets refined on the gulf coast, then shipped to the Bahamas. Next it's re-exported to California via the Panama Canal. This is because of a 106 year old law that requires cargo shipped between US ports to use US flagged vessels. Re-exporting works around that law.

https://nypost.com/2026/02/16/us-news/desperate-california-now-shipping-oil-from-the-bahamas-using-bizarre-loophole/

After 50 years, the US is finally building a new refinery. It will be optimized for the lighter sweet crude typically produced from the shale formations that now dominate US production. Groundbreaking for the new Texas facility is scheduled in just a few months.

Doesn’t the President or the government have the authority during times of conflict or times of national emergency to apply force on private industry to due what it can to help the nation.

Refinery closures aren't California's only self-inflicted problem. Their oil production has dropped from 760,000 barrels per day in 2000 to just 250,000 last year. No wonder they now import 70% of what they use!

Oppressive regulations contributed to this: when the cost to operate a well exceeds the revenue it eventually get shut in and plugged. But even worse is that the climate zealots running the state essentially stopped issuing drilling permits. Last year only 17 permits were issued compared to thousands just a few years ago.

Many people don't realize how much production drops as a well produces oil and gas, depleting the volumes and pressures in the underground reservoir. For conventional wells a production rate decline of 10 - 20% per year is typical, while shale wells often see decline rates of 30% or more. So a well with an initial rate of 1,000 BOPD often produces at half that rate after a few years. By suspending drilling permits California effectively killed their oil and gas industry.

But last year some California politicians realized that skyrocketing prices and shortages might have consequences at the ballot box, so they passed a law (SB 237) authorizing 2,000 drilling permits per year. Are they waking up to reality or just buying votes? Either way they must not be as concerned about global warming as they claimed.

[F6Dave]

The President has said he’s going to release from our strategic oil reserves 172 million barrels.

This I’m not thrilled about. We are far from a crisis situation and our reserves are already are half and will now be lowered.

It was said when the Biden administration reduced the reserve level that it may have impacted and weakened the integrity of the underground storage wells, thus draw down can’t make things better.

When oil tanked during Covid, Trump had the foresight to want to buy oil at the dirt cheap prices of around $35 a barrel but our super smart people in charge of the purse strings denied that idea. Now we’re going to be at around just under 300 million barrels in our reserves when this draw down is finished.

Now the President has said he’s will be replacing what is taken out plus an extra 20% with zero cost to we the people, but it won’t be all at once, it will be spread out over time.

I don't like that either. Maybe the end of this war is not as close as he says in public. Gas prices are up, but adjusted for inflation they're not even close to the peaks back in 2008 and 2012. This is no crisis. Yet.

I also read that the SPR was damaged by the releases during the Biden years, but did not see any details of how it happened. I do know there's a limit of to how quickly it can be filled or drained. Maybe that was a factor.

[HayHauler]

The President has said he’s going to release from our strategic oil reserves 172 million barrels.

This I’m not thrilled about. We are far from a crisis situation and our reserves are already are half and will now be lowered.

It was said when the Biden administration reduced the reserve level that it may have impacted and weakened the integrity of the underground storage wells, thus draw down can’t make things better.

When oil tanked during Covid, Trump had the foresight to want to buy oil at the dirt cheap prices of around $35 a barrel but our super smart people in charge of the purse strings denied that idea. Now we’re going to be at around just under 300 million barrels in our reserves when this draw down is finished.

Now the President has said he’s will be replacing what is taken out plus an extra 20% with zero cost to we the people, but it won’t be all at once, it will be spread out over time.

I don't like that either. Maybe the end of this war is not as close as he says in public. Gas prices are up, but adjusted for inflation they're not even close to the peaks back in 2008 and 2012. This is no crisis. Yet.

I also read that the SPR was damaged by the releases during the Biden years, but did not see any details of how it happened. I do know there's a limit of to how quickly it can be filled or drained. Maybe that was a factor.

Biden emptied the SPR to lower gas prices in an attempt to save face.

Hay 
Jimmyt

[Jersey mike]

Could one solution be government intervention in California and opening up refineries that have been closed, I don’t know but I like the sound of it.

Government run refineries. Seems like that was tried somewhere. Like Venezuela!

Lately there have been some articles about how California gets over 40% of its gasoline these days, since they've closed more refineries and aren't connected to many pipelines. It gets refined on the gulf coast, then shipped to the Bahamas. Next it's re-exported to California via the Panama Canal. This is because of a 106 year old law that requires cargo shipped between US ports to use US flagged vessels. Re-exporting works around that law.

https://nypost.com/2026/02/16/us-news/desperate-california-now-shipping-oil-from-the-bahamas-using-bizarre-loophole/

After 50 years, the US is finally building a new refinery. It will be optimized for the lighter sweet crude typically produced from the shale formations that now dominate US production. Groundbreaking for the new Texas facility is scheduled in just a few months.

Doesn’t the President or the government have the authority during times of conflict or times of national emergency to apply force on private industry to due what it can to help the nation.

Refinery closures aren't California's only self-inflicted problem. Their oil production has dropped from 760,000 barrels per day in 2000 to just 250,000 last year. No wonder they now import 70% of what they use!

Oppressive regulations contributed to this: when the cost to operate a well exceeds the revenue it eventually get shut in and plugged. But even worse is that the climate zealots running the state essentially stopped issuing drilling permits. Last year only 17 permits were issued compared to thousands just a few years ago.

Many people don't realize how much production drops as a well produces oil and gas, depleting the volumes and pressures in the underground reservoir. For conventional wells a production rate decline of 10 - 20% per year is typical, while shale wells often see decline rates of 30% or more. So a well with an initial rate of 1,000 BOPD often produces at half that rate after a few years. By suspending drilling permits California effectively killed their oil and gas industry.

But last year some California politicians realized that skyrocketing prices and shortages might have consequences at the ballot box, so they passed a law (SB 237) authorizing 2,000 drilling permits per year. Are they waking up to reality or just buying votes? Either way they must not be as concerned about global warming as they claimed.

They can issue all the permits they want, just like the Biden administration said they did, but it’s the ridiculous costs involved with regard to the environmental regulations that make pumping and handling the huge and costly expenses which in turn are a turn off for oil drillers.

California is losing 2 refineries. One in L.A. owned by Phillips66 and another owned by Valero in Beneica, CA.

https://lodi411.com/lodi-eye/the-impact-of-phillips-66-and-valero-refinery-closures-in-california

California seems to have forgotten the history of that state and just what really built that state…and it wasn’t Hollywood or orange groves, avacodos or almonds.

If we are coming into a crisis situation, the Fed should be able to override any state regulations for the benefit of the people as well as any military needs…and there are a lot of military needs in California as well as Texas, Arizona, Washington and several other states.

[Jersey mike]

Could one solution be government intervention in California and opening up refineries that have been closed, I don’t know but I like the sound of it.

Government run refineries. Seems like that was tried somewhere. Like Venezuela!

Lately there have been some articles about how California gets over 40% of its gasoline these days, since they've closed more refineries and aren't connected to many pipelines. It gets refined on the gulf coast, then shipped to the Bahamas. Next it's re-exported to California via the Panama Canal. This is because of a 106 year old law that requires cargo shipped between US ports to use US flagged vessels. Re-exporting works around that law.

https://nypost.com/2026/02/16/us-news/desperate-california-now-shipping-oil-from-the-bahamas-using-bizarre-loophole/

After 50 years, the US is finally building a new refinery. It will be optimized for the lighter sweet crude typically produced from the shale formations that now dominate US production. Groundbreaking for the new Texas facility is scheduled in just a few months.

Doesn’t the President or the government have the authority during times of conflict or times of national emergency to apply force on private industry to due what it can to help the nation.

Refinery closures aren't California's only self-inflicted problem. Their oil production has dropped from 760,000 barrels per day in 2000 to just 250,000 last year. No wonder they now import 70% of what they use!

Oppressive regulations contributed to this: when the cost to operate a well exceeds the revenue it eventually get shut in and plugged. But even worse is that the climate zealots running the state essentially stopped issuing drilling permits. Last year only 17 permits were issued compared to thousands just a few years ago.

Many people don't realize how much production drops as a well produces oil and gas, depleting the volumes and pressures in the underground reservoir. For conventional wells a production rate decline of 10 - 20% per year is typical, while shale wells often see decline rates of 30% or more. So a well with an initial rate of 1,000 BOPD often produces at half that rate after a few years. By suspending drilling permits California effectively killed their oil and gas industry.

But last year some California politicians realized that skyrocketing prices and shortages might have consequences at the ballot box, so they passed a law (SB 237) authorizing 2,000 drilling permits per year. Are they waking up to reality or just buying votes? Either way they must not be as concerned about global warming as they claimed.

California is sitting on huge reserves of oil, it’s not a lack of oil out there, it’s the fact they’ve regulated themselves into this situation.

Just a quick search on their reserves show they have a total crude reserve of 83 billion barrels.

[F6Dave]

California is sitting on huge reserves of oil, it’s not a lack of oil out there, it’s the fact they’ve regulated themselves into this situation.

Just a quick search on their reserves show they have a total crude reserve of 83 billion barrels.

Absolutely! A few years after I started my career at Texaco they bought the Getty Oil Company. I remember a presentation showing the main reason for the acquisition: the Kern River oil field near Bakersfield. There was so much oil in that single field that it increased the company's domestic reserves by a staggering amount, something like 40% IIRC.

I visited the facility a few times and it was unlike anything I'd ever seen: over 9,000 wells on 16 or 17 square miles. The oil was so heavy (more than Venezuelan crude) that it was solid at room temperature. To get that out of the ground requires enhanced recovery techniques, like steam flooding, where steam is pumped down adjacent wells to soften the heavy oil.

The Kern River steam flood includes a cogeneration plant. Before injection the steam runs through turbines which add 300 megawatts of electricity to California's grid. After the water is separated from the produced oil it is purified cleaner than the upstream intake, then sent downstream and used for irrigation in the San Joaquin Valley. Employees referred to the area as an energy and food factory.

Few Californians realize how much better their lives are because of places like Kern County. Many who hate the oil industry would be amazed at how miserable life would become if the industry shut down. It reminds me of a bumper sticker I often saw growing up near a western Colorado coal mine. It said 'Let the Bastards Freeze in the Dark'.

[DIGGER]

This morning Love truck stop at hyway 290 and fm 2920 diesel $5.18

[ridingron]

That's another reason prices will be going up. Just about every product, at some point, rides in a truck.

[0leman]

 I was out and about yesterday, saw that our local gas price was $3.99.  Been that way for over a week.  Didn't check on Diesel price, but it has been 50 cents higher than regular gas for a while.

[Jersey mike]

That's another reason prices will be going up. Just about every product, at some point, rides in a truck.

I’ll suffer a little at the pump for awhile if it means eradicating a regime who hates us and declare Death to America and Death to Israel.

I was a freshman in high school when the Iranian hostage crisis happened, I’ve applauded every time we hit back no matter the President, however THIS action has been 47 years in the making.

I think we went up about $0.30 per gal, I think we’re around $3.50 or so around here.

[3fan4life]

Looks like the US bombed Kharg Island last night:


https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8jxzlwvd8ro

[Jersey mike]

I can see how in terms of control, the USNavy or the President would not want anyone else around the Strait.

But, again, why is the US taking all responsibility?  We have supposed allies that have the capability to invest either physically or monetary.

According to what I've seen, the US does not need a open Strait of Hormuz.

Is it just to keep oil prices down globally?  To keep the detractors from ammunition?

Not reasons to put US service personnel or assets in jeopardy, IMHO.

It's amazing too me how 23 miles wide is considered tight

Another quick search on the shipping lanes of the strait; it seems like out of all 23 miles only 6 (or so) miles are utilized for shipping, at least for tankers and big freighters. 2 miles for inbound, 2 miles for outbound and a 2 mile buffer in between each lane.

Width of the Strait of Hormuz

The Strait of Hormuz varies in width:

Narrowest Point: Approximately 33 kilometers (21 miles)

Widest Point: Ranges from 35 to 60 miles

Shipping Channel Configuration

The shipping channels in the Strait of Hormuz are organized to ensure safe navigation for vessels. Here are the key features:

Traffic Separation Scheme

Inbound Lane: One lane designated for ships entering the strait

Outbound Lane: Another lane for vessels leaving the strait

Lane Width: Each lane is about 3 kilometers (approximately 2 nautical miles) wide

Buffer Zone: A 2-mile-wide median separates the two lanes to prevent collisions

Depth of the Strait

Depth Range: The water depth in the main shipping channels is between 60 to 100 meters (200 to 330 feet), allowing large oil tankers to pass safely.

This configuration helps manage the heavy flow of maritime traffic while maintaining safety in this critical global shipping route.

Width of the Buffer Zone in the Strait of Hormuz

Traffic Separation Scheme

The Strait of Hormuz employs a Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) to manage ship traffic safely. This system includes:

Inbound Lane: Used by ships entering the strait.

Outbound Lane: Used by ships leaving the strait.

Buffer Zone: A two-mile-wide area separating the two lanes.

This buffer zone helps prevent collisions between vessels moving in opposite directions, ensuring safer navigation through this critical waterway.

[F6Dave]

I read a commentary by Dick Morris that said Trump might want to reset his objectives to eliminating Iran's ability to spread terrorism (including nuclear weapons), while giving up on regime change. He pointed out that fanaticism can defeat massive military arsenals. Just look at Afghanistan. Both the USSR and the US got stuck there for years and left with very little accomplished.

[Jersey mike]

I read a commentary by Dick Morris that said Trump might want to reset his objectives to eliminating Iran's ability to spread terrorism (including nuclear weapons), while giving up on regime change. He pointed out that fanaticism can defeat massive military arsenals. Just look at Afghanistan. Both the USSR and the US got stuck there for years and left with very little accomplished.

I’ve said before, any change should come at the hands of the people, and that goes for anywhere, whether in Iran, Afghanistan or even what’s brewing in Cuba.

President Trump was recently asked about the people in Iran and if they should rise up (that’s a paraphrase) and his response was that he understands why they’re not, people are being executed for protesting, the regime pit out statements saying anyone supporting the attacks on Iran in any way will be executed. However he has also said that we are giving them the best opportunity to fight or create the changes they want so it will come down to the people and the sacrifice that come with fighting for freedom.

In other news regarding oil, although it’s a couple days old, Chevron and Shell are trying to work with Venezuela on new drilling. So the door seems to be opening a little down there and let’s hope it’s good business for us here in this hemisphere and the States.

[F6Dave]

Here's some interesting data on oil flowing through the Straits of Hormuz. The big takeaway is that nearly 90% of the total flows to Asia, yet GLOBAL prices have increased by over 50%. That includes here in my neighborhood where I paid well over $4/gallon for gas yesterday.

Natural gas, however, is priced regionally. So while European and Asian LNG prices have nearly doubled, here in the US prices are unchanged.

SOURCE

Saudi Arabia	37.2%
Iraq	22.8%
United Arab Emirates	12.9%
Iran	10.6%
Kuwait	10.1%
Qatar	4.4%
Other	1.9%

DESTINATION

China	37.7%
India	.7%
Other Asia	13.9%
South Korea	12.0%
Japan	10.9%
Europe	3.8%
United States	2.5%
Other	4.5%

[LadyDraco]

My farm has  to  run on 100% gas..
Last  week  I  paid  $4.20 for  100%
Thank goodness  I  only  need ed 10 gals.
 and  10 gals  (for  the  quad)  and  top off  big truck with crap from sam's C.. $3.59 for  cheap fuel.

I treat all fuels with Star Tron before I fill the jugs. It mixes  better  that way..

All of  that  should  hold  me  till June? Maybe. As  I did  have  other  jugs  of 100% filled  in storage

IMHO  other  that  the  BS  of  switching to the  summer  grade, there  is  always  a  hike  in price
before  it lvls  back off...
It's  all BS ...