08-30-07 by dugan
A refinery in Montana goes down for maintenance, and pump prices in North Dakota shoot upward to
$3.249 in major towns. The state is now hoping for rescue from Canada. It’s the
mini-example of what happened across the nation in May: a refining
industry that can’t or won’t produce enough gasoline to keep prices
from spiking, and reaps profit from shortage.
Here’s an earlier story from
the local Bismarck radio station explaining the problem. There’s a
refinery in Mandan, North Dakota, that could be taking up the slack,
but "the majority of their gas is shipped out of state." Say what?
Imagine the price they’re getting on the portion that they do sell in
North Dakota.
The whole Midwest is seeing prices around $3.00
and it’s about to get worse, with refineries going down Sept. 1 for
maintenance. Why all at once? As Deep Throat kept saying, "Follow the
money."
Thu, Aug 30, 2007 at 5:30 pm