As somebody who writes for the retail petroleum industry, price gouging is unacceptable but...
Those prices may be a reflection of what the retailer/marketer is paying on the spot market for his or her supply, given the shutdowns. The alternative, as has happened with some operations in Calif. during recent price inversion periods (where the general price on the street is lower than the retailer supply price) is to close the station until the market returns to normal.
These retailers tend to be small business people who typically have very low gasoline margins (under 10-cents per gallon, sometimes 2-5 cents at most) and are generally being driven out of business as operations like supermarkets start selling gasoline as a "loss-leader" product.
Anyway, this should only be a temporary adjustment. I likely expect OPEC (which includes Venezuala) to be fairly mild in their crude prices for some months after yesterday's tradgey.
Charon
