Market manipulation could be behind the fact that California drivers pay more for gasoline than the rest of the country, the Lost Angeles Times reports, citing a statement by the California Energy Commission. “The Energy Commission has identified a number of possible causes that could explain the residual price increase in California, ranging from refinery outages to potentially market manipulation,” the statement, sent to Governor Gavin Newsom, said. The commissions said it has identified several possible reasons for the fact that as of Friday, drivers in California paid an average of US$4.05 per gallon of gasoline, which was US$1.20 higher than the national average. Besides market manipulation, the reasons also included refinery outages. The commission noted prices in California began climbing noticeably higher than the national average in 2015 following an outage at a refinery in Torrence, which continued for more than a year. According to one hypothesis, the […]