California's gas prices may be falling, but they are still much higher than the rest of the nation. A Tuesday hearing by California's Energy Commission asked the state's five biggest refiners to come to discuss this year's high gas prices.
None of them showed up.
A Tweet by Gavin Newsom showed the empty tables, but the Western States Petroleum Association which represents the industry said it was a little misleading.
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"The president of our association was there," said Kevin Slagle, the WSPA's Vice President of Strategic Communications. "There was actually a really good discussion with the California Energy Commission."
The biggest topic of discussion? The reason for the large price increases this year.
"You look at the war in Ukraine, market forces, California needing to ship in a large portion of what we refine, there's a lot of easy-to-understand factors of why we are where we are," said Slagle.
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So where are we? In January of this year, the state's average gas price was $4.58, by June it had jumped to $6.29 a gallon. That increase happened despite no new state regulations or taxes.
This year oil and gas companies, including the ones that refine gasoline in California, also reported record-breaking profits.
Slagle said the earning reports increase because demand is high and costs are up.
"When there's that high demand and supply is scarce, costs go up," said Slagle. "You see that reflected in earnings."
But some economists say the costs plus more are being passed along to the consumer. Those numbers aren't how much each company earned, that's how much was made in profit.
"The big oil companies sell both oil and gas," said Alan Gin, associate professor of economics at the University of San Diego.
Economists like Gin say the profits are because some companies control almost the entire process, from the production and sale of crude oil to the selling of finished gasoline.
"That's contributing to the record profits we're seeing from the oil companies," said Gin.
A new state law takes effect in January, requiring oil companies to share more detailed information on their profits.
But WSPA says in order to reduce costs the state should change its policies and stop relying on bans and mandates from state governments.
"The industry is acting responsibly," said Slagle. "What we see when it comes to cost is related to market forces."
