NEW YORK — Gasoline prices can spike for all kinds of reasons that make skeptical drivers roll their eyes: “tension” in the Middle East, a refinery suddenly shuts down for maintenance or the annual springtime switch to summer blends of gasoline.
A refinery strike, however, would seem understandable. Yet three weeks into a walkout at 11 refineries around the country, the impact on the prices of gasoline, diesel and other fuels is barely discernible.
Gasoline prices have gone up this month, but mostly because of a sharp increase in the price of oil and because gas prices almost always rise at this time of year, according to Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service.
If autoworkers strike, cars stop coming off the line. If teachers strike, kids don’t go to school. But refineries are different. They are like giant pressure cookers, and once they are up and running, they don’t need much elbow grease to keep oil flowing in and fuels coming out.
“We can continue on running with the staffing levels that we have … for a very long period of time,” Tesoro CEO Geoff Goff told investors last week. Tesoro owns three of the refineries undergoing strikes.
The United Steelworkers union, which represents workers at 230 refineries, oil terminals, pipelines and petrochemical facilities in the U.S., called a strike Feb. 1 after failing to come to agreement over a new contract.
