While dark smoke was still billowing from a fire at Chevron Corp.’s Richmond, Calif., oil refinery, media --- especially broadcast --- were warning that gasoline prices “soon” would surge to above $4 a gallon on the West Coast, notes Grumpy Editor.
The blaze at Chevron’s facility, near San Francisco, erupted Monday night and was extinguished early Tuesday.
But near-hysterical media immediately warned about zooming prices at the pump.
News reports put Chevron’s Richmond facility output accounting for 16 percent of the region’s daily gasoline consumption. (However, scope of “region” was not pinpointed.)
Quick research by Grumpy Editor found that Chevron’s Richmond facility ranks third by capacity in the state and is one of four refineries in the Bay area, among 21 in California.
BP West Coast Products, Carson, tops the California oil refinery list, followed by another Chevron refinery in El Segundo, both near Los Angeles.
See a graphic on the many California refineries here.
The Los Angeles Times today noted “the expected run-up in gasoline prices” at the Chevron refinery “may not come as quickly as expected, but it's coming.”
It pointed out the refinery was now partially operating.
The blaze produced one of the more interesting quotes from a public official.
Associated Press reported Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin --- a Green Party member --- declared the fire was “unacceptable.”
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