By Tony McVeigh
Frankfort, KY – A consulting economist for Marathon Petroleum is defending gasoline price hikes imposed by the company during Kentucky's state of emergency, which remains in effect. Ramsey Shehadeh doesn't deny the company uses commodity spot market prices to help make pricing decisions.
"In my experience, I've never seen a refiner that would not look at spot prices. As I mentioned before, they'll certainly consider their manufacturing costs in deciding how much crude to run, but in terms of setting the price for the gasoline they sell, they're always thinking about what their options are and when their outside option is the spot market, that's going to drive their rack price."
The attorney general's office says Marathon has been price gouging during the state of emergency, a charge the company strongly denies. The state wants Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate to order Marathon to return gas prices to pre-emergency levels, but Wingate is still weighing the evidence.