U.S. report: Fuel markets 'significantly impacted' by refinery shutdown

[WriConsult]

Historically the west coast tends to have higher gas prices than the rest of the country, with California being highest, OR/WA a fair bit lower but still well above the average, because our supply chain is distinct from the rest of the country. Most people here have never even heard of Sunoco.

Usually that reverses itself when midwest/east refining takes a hit, as happened with Katrina. But this time we're seeing a spike too. Coincidentally (?!) a few weeks ago, a major explosion took a Washington refinery offline (and there are only 3 that serve the entire northwest).

So we've been above 4 bucks for some time now, with diesel in the 4.25 range last I looked. It's now at the point where B99 biodiesel, at 3.99, is cheaper than B5 petrodiesel!