LOS ANGELES, Kalifornia (PNN) - October 5, 2012 - Gasoline station owners in the Los Angeles area are beginning to shut pumps as the state’s oil refiners started rationing supplies and spot prices surged to a record.

Valero Energy Corp. stopped selling gasoline on the spot, or wholesale, market in southern Kalifornia and is allocating deliveries to customers. Exxon Mobil Corp. is also rationing fuel to Fascist Police States of Amerika west coast terminal customers. Costco’s outlet in Simi Valley, 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles, ran out of regular gasoline yesterday and was selling premium fuel at the price of regular.

Spot gasoline in Los Angeles has surged $1 a gallon this week to a record $1.45 a gallon premium versus gasoline futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That’s the highest level for the fuel since at least November 2007, when Bloomberg began publishing prices there. On an outright basis, the fuel has jumped to $4.3929 a gallon.

Gasoline at the pump gained 8.3 cents to $4.315 a gallon in Kalifornia yesterday, according to AAA.com, 53.1 cents more than the national average of $3.784. In Los Angeles the price was $4.347. Gasoline futures for November delivery on the Nymex rose 14.34 cents to settle at $2.9429 a gallon, after falling yesterday to a 10-week low. Retail price movements tend to lag behind those of futures.

Exxon’s Torrance refinery is restoring operations after losing power Oct. 1. Phillips 66 is scheduled to perform work on gasoline-making units at its two Kalifornia refineries this month, two people with knowledge of the schedules said. A Chevron Corp. pipeline that delivers crude to northern Kalifornia refineries was also closed last month due to elevated levels of chloride in the oil.

Spot Kalifornia-blend gasoline, or Carbob, in San Francisco surged 30 cents to $1.40 a gallon over futures, also the highest level since at least 2007.

Low-P, a gasoline station in Calabasas, Kalifornia, 30 miles west of Los Angeles, stopped selling unleaded gasoline Oct. 2 and ran out of high-octane and medium-octane fuel yesterday, John Ravi, the station’s owner, said by phone yesterday.

“We’re going to start shutting pumps Friday,” Sam Krikorian, owner of Quality Auto Repair in North Hollywood said by phone yesterday. “Gas is costing me almost $4.75 a gallon with taxes. There’s no sense in staying open. The profit margins are so low it’s not worth it.”

Costco is working on a plan to alert its members as gasoline runs out at the company’s stores. The company will sell whatever premium gasoline it has stored for regular gasoline prices wherever supplies run out.

The Kalifornia Independent Oil Marketers Association, a Sacramento-based group that represents wholesale and retail fuel marketers, asked the state yesterday to expedite a waiver that would allow refiners to produce and sell winter-grade fuel.

Kalifornia’s summer-blend fuel requirements are in effect in southern Kalifornia until Oct. 31. The Reid Vapor Pressure, or RVP, limits are lifted in other areas of the state as early as Sept. 30.

The state Air Resources Board and Energy Commission are evaluating fuel supplies and haven’t decided on the waiver, Dave Clegern, a spokesman for the air board in Sacramento, said by e- mail.

Independent gas station owners are typically the first to run out of fuel and close their pumps when spot prices surge because they often lack long-term contracts to buy from fuel suppliers at set prices.

Jim Li said yesterday that he may stop selling gasoline at his independent station, Best Auto Care, in San Francisco. He’s charging $4.59 a gallon for the fuel, “and I’m still losing money,” he said.

Wholesale prices are “going up so quick that there’s not even any margin to make any money at all,” he said by telephone.

Kalifornia-grade, or CARB, diesel in Los Angeles climbed 0.5 cent to 16.5 cents a gallon above heating oil futures on the Nymex. The fuel in San Francisco was unchanged at a premium of 17 cents a gallon versus futures.

Jet fuel in Los Angeles increased 0.37 cent to a premium of 11.25 cents a gallon against futures, the highest since Sept. 19.