$4 gas in Sonoma

By Friday, a gallon of regular gasoline was still a bit under the $4 mark at eight stations in and around Sonoma. But seven of them were offering high-grade gasoline at $4 a gallon or more: $4.15 at the Union 76 on Broadway, $4.07 at The Corner Station at Arnold Drive and Grove Street; $4.06 at the Union 76 on Hwy. 12; $4.03 each at the Union 76 and Chevron stations on West Napa Street; $4.01 at Valero on Hwy. 12; and $4 at Broadway Shell.
Statewide, the average price for premium gasoline was $3.98 a gallon as of Monday, April 14, according to the US Dept. of Energy. Standard was $3.84 a gallon. The national retail price of gasoline has been wobbling near $3 a gallon since last autumn, and Bill Bush, spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based American Petroleum Institute, said Monday that crude-oil costs are the major factor. State and federal taxes (at a per-gallon average of 46 cents) add the next biggest component.
But no matter the pump price, retailers only average a profit margin of about 20 cents a gallon, according to a survey of Sonoma station owners who preferred not to be directly quoted. One reason is that oil companies set the retail prices – with a narrow window to adjust based on local competition.
“I think the most important thing that customers realize is that it’s not the guy who’s selling at the pump making the 50 billion dollars,” said one. “The profit that we make is exactly the same – we’d rather it go back to $2 a gallon so we can pay less sales tax. It’s bad all the way around.”
Another said that when gas prices go up, more people use credit cards – which means added processing costs. “If everybody used cash only, they could lower the cost by five or six cents a gallon,” he said.
Sonoma resident Bob Heideman, filling his tank on West Napa St. Friday morning, sounded a philosophical note. “It is what it is, and there’s nothing we can do about it,” he said. “But it’s not as high as San Francisco, so what can you do?”