State’s Gasoline Prices Skyrocket as Uncertainty Mounts

War talk is turning into sticker shock at the gas pump, with plastic $2 signs coming out of storage at service stations around the state.

California motorists paid an average of $1.862 a gallon Tuesday for self-serve regular gasoline, up 11 cents since Feb. 10, according to a weekly survey by the U.S. Energy Department that was delayed by one day this week by the Presidents Day holiday.

In San Francisco, the average hit $1.963 a gallon, up 11.9 cents. Tuesday’s average in Los Angeles was $1.836 a gallon -- 12.7 cents higher, according to the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the Energy Department.

Nationwide, the average rose to $1.66 a gallon from $1.607 a week ago.

A survey by AAA found even higher prices in California on Tuesday: $2.045 a gallon in San Francisco and $1.853 a gallon in Los Angeles.

AAA last week urged gasoline wholesalers and retailers to “show restraint in the pricing of their product” because “nothing fully justifies the dramatic increase in gasoline prices experienced across the United States in the last month.”

Carol Thorp, spokeswoman for the Automobile Club of Southern California, said the local office has “no evidence to show that gouging is going on.” But, “Anytime prices shoot up like this, people start talking,” she said.

Gasoline prices appear to be closely tracking the increases in crude oil prices, said Rob Schlichting, a spokesman for the California Energy Commission. Crude oil and gasoline inventories have been depleted by the loss of imports from Venezuela, and oil prices have been further boosted by market fears that a military action against Iraq would disrupt oil supplies from Persian Gulf countries, analysts have said.

California motorists often pay among the highest prices in the nation because of the cleaner-burning gasoline sold here. California saw higher prices two years ago, “but I don’t know if that’s a big enough cause for rejoicing,” Thorp said. The average price in San Francisco was $2.14 a gallon on May 31, 2001, and $2.036 in Los Angeles on May 25, 2001.

The California average never passed $2 on the EIA survey, peaking at $1.954 on May 14, 2001.

Drivers looking for low prices should try Yuba City, where the average was $1.785 a gallon Tuesday, according to AAA, or the Chico-Paradise area, with an average price of $1.743 a gallon.