I would have to disagree with the report based on what I see in Pennsylvania. I certainly can't speak for California, but here in central PA I see a strong correlation between spot market gasoline prices and pump prices. for instance:

Feb 7th (bought my HCH II then) - March spot gasoline - $1.60 - Pump price $2.25 (difference 65 cents)
Feb 14th - March spot gasoline $1.40 - Pump price $2.10 (difference 70 cents)
April 5th - May spot gasoline - $1.90 - Pump price $2.70 (difference 70 cents)
April 21st - May spot gasoline - $2.25 - pump price $2.96 (difference 71 cents)

As you can see - the data shows that for my little corner of the world - the pump price has very closely tracked the spot price of gasoline for the forward month's contract. It worked this way during the spikes around when the hurricanes hit last year too.

There is nothing in this data that makes me angry at any oil company (some NY or Chicago commodities traders and hedge fund speculators perhaps, but not the oil companies)

Eric