Sure Noel - Here's  a link: EIA 

Under "Reports," click on: U.S. Retail Gasoline Prices

On the right, click on: Gasoline Historical Data

Under "Area," click on:  United States

Then in the worksheet, click on; U.S. All Grades All Formulations

Looks like there was great A N T I C I P A T I O N on election day.

See, nothing to it. (;~>

When I was a kid, I remember, "Buy a case of Coca Cola and get a free fill-up."

"Gas wars" meant something different then.

Loved those ole coke bottles. (;~> gary

First, what are you talking about?  The point being discussed was about a now changed/deleted post that said that we should have seen gas prices at $1.73 a gallon, and that a price of $2.17 wasn't "out of whack".  My point is that while the price may only be a .44 difference, which isn't much, but percentage-wise it's pretty significant.

To your point, there does not have to be a surplus to result in lower prices.  A surplus, or shortage, can impact prices, but they are never the only factor.  For example, if you're running a computer store, and there's a shortage of computers, you could put a premium on the the price of the computers you have in your store to capitalize on the increased demand and make more profit.  But... you do so at the risk of losing customers who see you as an opportunist.  As the wholesale price of new computers go up, you can raise the price one-for-one to account for the increase, or you can try to make up the increased cost elsewhere, or endure lower profits, to maintain or increase your customer base.  This is just business management 101 stuff.

So yes, the price of oil has gone up, the population has gone up, the number of drivers and cars have gone up... in short, the demand for gas has gone up... but contrary to your statement, refinery capacity has not remained flat.  New refineries have not been built, but existing refineries have been greatly improved and modernized so that refining capacity has increased.  Also, the amount of crude being produced has greatly increased.  So what are the consequences?  Well, we all know when demand is up and supply is low, prices go up, and when demand is down and supply is up, prices go down.  But realistically speaking, this is a situation where supply and demand have both gone up, so what's really impacting the price?  My view is the lack of external competition. 

How many TVs do Americans need before they don't need anymore?  How many micro-mini-millseconds faster can you make a computer before the ROI on buying a new one doesn't justify the cost?  But oil products are a different story.  You gotta have them, you gotta buy them on a regular basis, and there ain't no substitute.  Computer companies had to drop their unit prices from $3,000+ to $500 not because of a drop in demand, but due to a shift from Big Bucks (corporate) buyers to the home market.  Oil companies are free to charge whatever the market will bear (and then some) because the consumer has no alternatives.  If the oil companies want to make 50% profit, they can.  If they want to make 400% profit, they can.  I usually have no issue with profit levels when there are alternatives (for example, if soda makers want to make 400% profit by charging $20 for a bottle of soda, fine.  We'll start drinking tea, water, juice, etc., the soda makers will lose business, and be forced to accept lower profits to stay in business... just like computer and TV makers had to). 

But oil companies don't have that problem.  If they want to make 400% profits they can.  All they have to do is cite some BS reason like wars that haven't happened, damage from storms that didn't really impact production, rumors of a refinery being disabled, etc., and they can make all the money they want.  The only thing that gets their attention is when Uncle Sam starts sniffing around them and using the dreaded "R" word.  Everytime regulation starts getting talked about on a serious level, gas prices drop despite the same fears of war being present, 80% of storm damage not being fixed, no new refineries being built, etc.  And why?  Because the oil companies are willing to forgo some extravagant profits to keep Uncle Sam off their back, which is the only real defense consumers have.