As I drive into town each day from my home in the Central California hills, I come to a corner with two gas stations . Every day, they charge significantly different prices. On one side of the street, the Chevron station is currently advertising $6.29 per gallon, while across the street, Great Gas (a North Carolina-based company) advertises $5.49. Both prices are too high for comfort, but an $0.80 difference between them seems huge to me. Not only that, but if you drive 400 miles north to Oregon, the average price for gas (as of this post’s publication) is only $5.00. And if you go east, the price is even less. In fact, the national average price for gas as of this writing, according to AAA, is only $4.16, which means that people in some places are paying less than $4.00 per gallon. What’s up with these price variations? Let’s take a look. What Determines the Price of Gas?…