That's dirt cheap!

I pay 2.96 regular in LA!

This gas prices totally suck!

 

Can't tell you for sure without seeing the station...but several things could cause this. First, the price of the oil that the tanker truck driver and the middleman charged the station owner. Second, the quality of the fuel itself and its detergent packages. Third, the operating expenses of the station. Fourth, the taxes the owner has to pay. Fifth, the amount of buisness the station has and the price the station owner things he can charge and make a reasonable profit without running into state price-gouging laws.
It is not uncommon in my area either for gas to vary 20-30 cents from one station to another for the same octane fuel.

 

mmarshall - thanks for continuing to point out the logistics and economics of all this.

Another economic point...

Drive 15,000 miles a year at 20mpg and you've used 750 gallons. So if gas goes up say a buck a gallon you've paid $750 more in one year than before. Is it great? No, but is it a crisis for most people? It shouldn't be compared to other increases! Insurance of every kind (heatlhcare, auto, home, life, etc.), property and other taxes, altogether can go up $750 a year EASILY. Then your local government quietly increases the sales tax 1% - seems innocuous enough until you buy that $50,000 car and just added $500 to the cost, and most everything else went up too.

But gas prices - people go nuts over. If you think you can do it cheaper, go ahead and raises the billions in capital, dig holes in the ground (or under an ocean ), pump that black goop out of the ground, build refineries, comply with a zillion regulations varying all over the world, transport the gasoline all over, and sell each gallon for less than the price of bottled water or a pint of beer!