California Gas, Diesel Refiners Ended 2006 'with a Flourish'

Energy Resource,  Jan 4, 2007  

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ENERGY RESOURCE-4 January 2007-California Gas, Diesel Refiners Ended 2006 'with a Flourish'(C)2007 JeraOne - http://www.jeraone.com

The California Energy Commission reported that California refiners finished 2006 "with a flourish," producing gasoline and diesel fuel in amounts not seen at the end of December in over five years.

According to the Weekly Fuels Watch Report issued by the Commission yesterday, production of California gasoline averaged 1,048,286 barrels a day for the week ending December 29, 2006. Production topped last year's production by 8.4 percent.

The national average retail price of regular gasoline declined nearly a penny to $2.33 a gallon for the week ending January 1, 2007. California's retail price for regular remained at $2.61 a gallon statewide, 40 cents higher than the statewide average at the beginning of 2006.

Inventories of the California fuel increased by 9.9 percent over the past week and were 17.2 percent more abundant than at the end of 2005, marking the third week in a row that gasoline production exceeded levels reached for comparable weeks in the past five years.

Production of California's Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) was up 5.1 percent from the previous week and was 29 percent higher than comparable output at this time in 2005. ULSD inventories increased 19.4 percent for the week and are 1.4 percent more plentiful than at this time last year.

The national retail average price for diesel dropped 1.6 cents to $2.58 a gallon for the week ending January 1, 2007. California's retail diesel held steady at $2.88 a gallon, 34.5 cents higher than the California average one year ago.

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