Vegas gas prices: inflation, my ass

As of yesterday, the cheapest gas in Vegas was $3.99 a gallon. The cheapest gas in Bullhead City, 95 miles to the south, was $2.99 a gallon.

Vegas gets its gasoline from two pipelines that come from Southern California, as well as truck deliveries. Bullhead City gets all of its gasoline from truck deliveries, the majority of which come from the Vegas area, and some of which come directly from Southern California. So the cost of getting the gas to Bullhead City is greater than the cost of getting it to Vegas. Yet...the gas costs 33% more in Vegas.

The disparity is caused by the oil companies taking advantage of high demand in Vegas due to recent visitation. Also, people who drive to Vegas from SoCal pretty much have to refuel in Vegas. It's a captive market. I've heard lots of rationalization about how Vegas gas prices are so high because of inflation yada yada. That's not the reality. The reality is that the oil companies have jumped on the Vegas gouge bandwagon.

I just want to ask: if you can get a tanker truck full of gas to Bullhead City and sell it for $2.99 a gallon at a profit, how come you need to charge $1.00 more a gallon if the truck goes to Vegas instead--an equivalent or even easier and shorter trip?

The price of the gas in the truck to Las Vegas is more because it has to include covering the money to pay for what the driver lost at the tables!

Kevin, you might want to brush up on knowledge of what is called "boutique gasoline".  Las Vegas gas stations sell a different gas formulation than what is sold in Bullhead City.  California also uses a boutique gasoline, which is one of the reasons why California gasoline prices are so high.  We're talking apples and oranges.

The boutique gasoline which is mandated for use in Vegas is far more expensive than the gasoline sold in Bullhead City.

Next you might want to learn why we need to import crude oil to the United States.  I'll give you a hint.  We no longer produce as much sour crude as we used to.  That should give you a head start on your research.

https://www.bellperformance.com/blog/boutique-gasolines-explained

Here's a map of all of the places across the country where unique (aka boutique and RFG) gasolines are mandated.  When a refinery goes for down for maintainence and that refinery produces a large percentage of a certain unique gasoline, supply and demand realities take hold.  Imagine what a fire does to supply.

In addition, these regional and unique gasolines are far more expensive to produce, accounting for the great majority of the retail price difference.  The goal of using these unique fuels in metro areas is to clean up the air.  All of this comes at a cost, and Las Vegas is paying the price.  The cost my be worth it, but there is a cost.

Here's the map.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Map-of-RVP-phase-II-and-RFG-regulations-as-of-2006_fig2_42831329

Thamks for the "boutique gas" information, but the link for the map does not load. It takes you to a "Researchgate" that requires a log-in.

Jerome - I "clicked" on the address that Boilerman alluded to - and it worked and showed the map. I have Google Chrome, possibly your Web Browser is not showing the map. If you do not have Google Chrome, you might try it or one of the other Web Browsers.

Here's what's going on.  There are multiple reformulated gasoline grades.  California's grades are the most expensive to produce, as they pull out the cheapest portion and highly volitile components.  This makes California gas very expensive to produce, yet "cleaner"..  There is also the standard product that much of the country enjoys.  The balance of the country buy blends somewhere ine the middle.

The expensive grades cost about $1.00 per gallon more to produce than the cheap grades.  Nevada gasoline taxes are also 5 cents more per gallon than Arizona gas, but that's a small portion of the total cost.

Interesting I live in Vegas and only once this last year did I pay over $4/gal. I paid $4.03/gal for premium and at that time regular was 0.20¢ less. As some people in this town know you don't have to buy your gas at Terrible's.

Vegas gasoline blends are not as expensive as California gasoline blends, plus California has the highest gasoline taxes in the country.  I just checked, and today Vegas gas is running 50 cents more than Indianapolis.  Los Angeles gas prices are currently $1.00 more than Indy.

It's silly to talk about what it supposedly costs them to make the stuff, whatever flavor it happens to be. The SOLE determinant of what they charge is what they think they can get away with. Prices in California are higher because California is richer. Period.

The cost of producing one gallon of gasoline is roughly the same no matter where that production actually occurs in the US, given that the production or delivery of crude, refining, distribution, retailing, etc. are all nationwide and performed by national and international corporations. They can choose where to send the finished product. The differences in taxes between poor states like Arkansas or Mississippi and rich states like New York or California are much smaller than the actual differences in retail prices.

We all should realize that the market for petroleum products is effectively a monopoly with several players--the technical term is "oligopoly." Where we go wrong is in assuming that it's something else--a fair and free market. It's not. They control our lives (can we get along without transportation?) and decide how much of our wallets they want to vacuum up.

So why don't they just charge $20 or $50 a gallon, you may ask? Well, that would be counterproductive. They want to shear the sheep, not kill them. If people can't afford food or rent because it costs $200 to fill their gas tank, they'll get sick and die, and then they won't be buying gas at any price. So the oil companies have calculated exactly how much they can charge, in various areas of the country, so that people can continue to eke out a bare existence. Just like the most successful slave owners realized that it was poor strategy to starve their slaves, the oil oilgarchs finely tune the prices of their products so that we all have JUST enough money to afford them.

The so-called "free market" doesn't exist.