California's gasoline prices will always differ from the rest of the country's just because of the pipeline systems in the US.

As far as I know there is currently only one pipeline running from California to Texas, and it drops off refined products all along the way. The reason for this is that there is a lot of oil in California and even more that can be sourced from Alaska and Canada via tanker.

But it all comes down to supply and demand. Our elected ones are always screaming about 'oil independence' and now that it is getting closer a lot of them are puzzled as to what to whine about next. But as long as the money is there people are going to drill for oil, and they are getting better at it all the time.

I used to hear oil producers carry on about 'restrictive drilling requirements' and blaming those for their lack of production. The reality was they were upset that they could not drill in some National Parks where they might have an edge due to who they knew, and therefore were forced to deal with landowners who wanted top dollar for their royalty. Finally they broke down and cut loose with some cash and secured some leases, but they still whine about how put upon they are although they cannot get rigs to drill with even if more public lands were opened up.