What do you pay for fuel?

[the Ferret]

Gentlemen,

I'm a Chevron dealer and I'm currently paying 2.71 per gallon wholesale to buy Regular gas. There are stations all over Phoenix selling gas for 2.69, some as low as 2.61 per gallon. Lower than my wholesale cost. Bummer. My retail price is 2.99.

Chip

I believe it and I think it should be emphasized. Keep in mind that the EPA has REGIONAL REQUIREMENTS in terms of additives for emissions standards...and those cost. As does having a hundred different sorts of blends cost.

The profit to the oil companies was, when I researched it, 2008...eight cents a gallon. To the retailer, comparable or less.

That's why mom-and-pop service stations have disappeared. Goober and his family cannot make a living selling gasoline anymore. Only a chain of self-serve stations with minimal employees and cardreaders can show a profit...a razor-thin profit.

Where is all this money going? OPEC.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Motorists may fume when forking over $3 a gallon at the local service station, but as it turns out, your local filling spot makes chump change from a gallon of gas.

So exactly who is getting rich?

Gas stations: A surprisingly small amount goes to the guy who runs the station. Most service stations are independently owned and operated and take in between 7 and 10 cents for every gallon they sell, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Taxes: The government takes about 40-70 cents right off the top, with about 18 cents going to the feds. State taxes vary widely, but the national average is about 22 cents a gallon. Most of this money is used to build and maintain roads.

Transportation: Getting the gas from refineries to service stations via trucks or pipelines - and the cost of storing it in large tanks - eats up another 23 to 26 cents per gallon.

Refining: About 24 cents a gallon goes to refining companies

Crude oil: This is the most expensive part of a gallon of gas. Of every gallon of gas $2.07 from every gallon of gas goes to producers of crude