Uh oh. I thought dipping into the reserves, and the inflation bill would solve all our gas problems.
The West is seeing a massive gas price rise, with California cities hitting new records.
The national average is $3.80, which is up 11.1 cents from last week:
“With gas prices continuing to surge on the West Coast and Great Lakes, the national average saw its second straight weekly rise. But at the same time, areas of the Northeast and Gulf Coast have continued to see declines as the nation experiences sharp differences in trends between regions,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “Some West Coast states saw prices rise 35 to 55 cents per gallon in the last week as refinery issues continued to impact gasoline supply, which fell to its lowest level in a decade in the region, causing prices to skyrocket. While I’m hopeful there will eventually be relief, prices could go a bit higher before cooling off. In addition, OPEC could decide to cut oil production by a million barrels as the global economy slows down, potentially creating a catalyst that could push gas prices up further.”
Let’s look at California:
The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area rose less than a penny Monday morning, but it was enough to set a new record at $6.466, according to the AAA website.Riverside County also set a record at $6.332 overnight, and Orange County broke its record on Saturday with a new high of $6.429 per gallon.
- Los Angeles-Long Beach – $6.46 (Record high)
- Orange County – $6.42 (Record high Saturday)
- Ventura County – $6.40
- Riverside County – $6.33 (Record high)
- San Bernardino County $6.32
The average price across California stands at $6.38, which is still about 5 cents short of the record set back in June.
Gov. Gavin Newsom blamed the high prices on “oil company extortion.” If that’s the case, then why did Newsom relax refinery rules? If anything, it proves the oil company executives are correct when they blame California’s strict state regulations.
To the shock of no one, Newsom didn’t release details of the proposal. What a wuss.
Michigan gas rose 23 cents to $4.17 last week:
Metro Detroit’s average is even more, at $4.20 a gallon, and Marquette’s, at $4.26.”Michigan drivers are seeing noticeably higher prices at the pump, with the state average jumping above $4 a gallon once again,” said Adrienne Woodland, a AAA spokeswoman, Monday in a news release. “If demand remains robust as supply tightens, drivers should brace for rising pump prices through the week.”Even the least expensive gas price areas in the state: — Traverse City, $4.03; Benton Harbor, $4.13 and Grand Rapids, $4.14 — were averaging more than $4 a gallon.The new gas price is 33 cents morethan [sic] last month and almost $1 — 96 cents more — than last year. Motorists are paying an average of $62 for a full 15-gallon tank of gasoline. Nationwide, the price of gas is $3.80 a gallon, just a 9-cent increase from a week ago.
Columbus, South Carolina, saw a 15-cent rise in gas prices, now averaging $3.68 a gallon.
Gas in Cleveland, Ohio, went up by 6.7 cents to $3.70. Akron went up by 1 cent.
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