He said in a video on Twitter on Friday that oil companies continue to ratchet up prices and “provide no explanation” as to why. Newsom, however, has placed the blame for rising costs in California at the feet of oil companies. “These companies are not just producing the energy, … they’re fighting for their license to operate,” Greene said. Kara Greene, a spokesperson for the Western States Petroleum Assn., which lobbies for the oil and gas industry, said the state’s “inhospitable policies” toward oil and gas make it challenging to keep providing products that Californians need to commute and travel - and understandable when refineries do close down. “I think we’re really at that delicate stage now where we have just about as much supply to meet demand.” ![]() “We don’t have any resiliency,” Hiatt said. With oil prices consistent of late, De Haan said the refinery issues are “front and center” to the market’s current changes. Patrick De Haan, a petroleum analyst for GasBuddy, called the West Coast the “epicenter” of the recent gas price increases, which have driven up the national average, even as parts of the Gulf and East coasts have seen decreases in pump prices. CEC officials said some of the recent refinery work that affected gasoline supply has been completed, but much remains ongoing and will not be complete until later this month. A spokesperson for Phillips 66 confirmed its refinery in the Los Angeles area was undergoing planned maintenance as of Monday.Įleven of the state’s refineries produce transportation fuel that meets California’s gasoline standards, according to the CEC, providing gas for the entire state as well as most of Nevada and parts of Arizona. It wasn’t immediately clear which refineries across the state faced short-term outages in recent weeks, either for planned or unplanned maintenance, but a statement from the California Energy Commission said that “refinery production issues” had been recorded in both Northern and Southern California. A year ago, the average price for a gallon in California was below $4.50, about $2 below current prices. Since then, prices have climbed consistently, with California drivers now paying on average $1.15 more for a gallon of regular gas than a month prior. Gas prices started to creep upward in late September, after nearly 100 days of declines. Records were also set Tuesday across Southern California: in Orange County, the average gallon cost reached a new high of $6.45 in Ventura County, prices reached an average of $6.43 in San Diego County, $6.42 and in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, $6.36. The average gas price in Los Angeles broke records Monday and Tuesday, reaching a historic high of $6.47 Monday, only to be toppled at $6.49 Tuesday, according to AAA. Only Alaska came close behind, with a 54-cent increase during the same period, though other Western states have also seen noticeable increases. Over the last week, California gas prices have seen the steepest uptick in the U.S., jumping 59 cents to an average of $6.38 a gallon Monday, according to data from the American Automobile Assn. Plenty of challenges lie ahead as California mandates zero-emission cars, including cost and access to charging. “So if one refinery goes off to do maintenance, the prices are going to jump, because we don’t have much slack.”īusiness California bans sales of new gas-powered cars by 2035. tight market,” said Shon Hiatt, an associate professor of business at USC focused on the energy industry. Gavin Newsom responded last week to the drastic increases in fuel costs by jump-starting the state’s shift to its cheaper, winter-blend gasoline, energy experts say it could still be weeks until drivers get some real relief at the pump. California is getting another reminder of the volatility of its energy supply as shutdowns at several oil refineries have sent gas prices soaring, including to all-time highs Monday and Tuesday in Los Angeles.Īt least five plants have recently faced maintenance-related stoppages or slowdowns, limiting supplies of California’s special blend of gasoline mandated to reduce pollution.Īnd unlike the nationwide spike in gasoline costs this summer - driven by high oil prices and a surge in travel - the recent rise in gasoline prices is unique to California and some of its Western neighbors, underscoring yet again the fragility of the state’s transitioning energy markets.
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