State’s gasoline up nearly 10 cents
California motorists took a nearly 10-cent hit at the pump over the last week, almost double the increase nationally, a federal survey showed Monday. And fuel experts say more pain is on the way.
The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in California hit $2.632, according to the Energy Department’s weekly survey of filling stations around the country. That was 9.7 cents above the previous week’s figure and 11 cents above the year-ago price.
Analysts cited a variety of factors including the fact that California is among the first states to switch to a summer blend of fuel that is more costly and difficult to make than winter blends. But that wasn’t their worst news.
“California may be the only spot in the country to go over $3 a gallon this year,” said Fred Rozell, director of retail pricing for Oil Price Information Service in New Jersey. Rozell blamed brisk demand and tight supplies for the gloomy price outlook in California.
Some observers cited last Tuesday’s rupture of natural gas lines and a subsequent fire at Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s Elk Hills oil and gas field near Bakersfield.
The Elk Hills shutdown was disrupting the flow of crude oil to refineries, the Automobile Club of Southern California said, driving buyers into the spot market for refined gasoline.
“Any kind of glitch when they are in switch-over mode to summer blend can really impact prices,” said Marie Montgomery, a spokeswoman for the Automobile Club.
Occidental has said production would resume in a few days at Elk Hills, which it said was the seventh-largest oil and natural gas field in the continental U.S.
Nationally, the average gasoline price was up a nickel to $2.241 a gallon, the highest price in five weeks. The increase largely reflected the recent rise in oil prices. Monday’s U.S. gas average was 4.3 cents below the year-ago price.
In New York futures trading, crude oil fell $2.08 to $57.81 a barrel after Saudi Oil Minister Ali Ibrahim Naimi indicated that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries might not make more production cuts.
“The market had failed to close above $60 after numerous attempts last week. The indicators failed to stay strong and they ran out of reasons for a strong market,” said Phil Flynn, vice president and senior market analyst for Alaron Trading Corp.
