[Pops]

At the EIA look up Refiner Acquisition Cost, there is domestic and total IIRC. Also wholesale finished product cost too.

[ROCKMAN]

Tanada – There will obviously always be a link between oil and gasoline prices. But it isn’t a fixed equation…too many variables. Thus a movement in oil prices may not be matched by gasoline prices. In fact, depending on a specific market they might move in opposite directions for a short time.

The big variables would inventory volumes, local demand and marketing revenue requirements. There have been times when I’ve seen retailers sell at a loss. And there also a question of where a vertical integrated company wants to book a profit. ExxonMobil’s production company can sell oil to an XOM refinery company which, in turn, sells to an XOM retail marketing company which might sell to an XOM gas station, to an franchised XOM station or to a Shell Oil gas station. At what price/profit one XOM unit sells to another will vary depending on where tax structures dictate the best approach. I don’t know any more details but in the past I’ve had refiners tell me it was advantageous to the corporation to pay a high price for oil from one of their subs and have the refinery post a loss.