Advertisement

State’s gasoline jumps 8.6 cents

Share
Times Staff Writer

Motorists around the country paid more for gasoline last week than they did the week before, a government report showed Monday, and analysts warned that 2007 was shaping up to be a pricey year at the pump.

The average retail cost of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline rose 8.6 cents in California to $2.796, according to the Energy Department’s weekly survey of service stations. That was almost 36 cents ahead of the average price a year ago and represents the most expensive tally ever for the first eight weeks of the year.

Nationally, the average price increased 8.7 cents to $2.383 a gallon, 13 cents ahead of the price last year, driven by 10-cent-a-gallon increases in New England and the Gulf Coast.

Advertisement

“We are way ahead of last year’s pace” nationally and in California, said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for Oil Price Information Service. “By this weekend we will be paying $100 million more a day for gasoline than when the president made his State of the Union address.”

Analysts blamed higher oil prices plus several refinery and pipeline problems. Among them was the Feb. 16 shutdown of Valero Energy Corp.’s Sunray, Texas, refinery. That facility supplies gasoline to Arizona, forcing that state to rely more on its other major supplier -- Los Angeles-area refineries.

The gap between the California average and the national average was 41 cents a gallon Monday, a fact one consumer group attributed to price gouging and a deliberate effort to keep supply tight.

“California’s price spike in February, nearly the lowest consumption period of the year, is setting up the state to smash last year’s $3.38-a-gallon record,” said Judy Dugan, research director for the Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights. “Lawmakers will be guilty of political malpractice if they ignore this blatant profiteering.”

But Joe Sparano, president of trade group Western States Petroleum Assn., said the pump price in California reflected market factors, including the state’s mandated cleaner-burning gasoline and relatively high fuel taxes.

“Our gas costs more to make. When prices go up nationally, that is magnified by our tax structure,” Sparano said. “There are zero pipelines of refined product that come into California. Every drop of refined product that we don’t make, we have to get it by ship.”

Advertisement

In New York futures trading, crude oil gained for the fourth straight session, up 25 cents to $61.39 a barrel. Oil prices were reacting to cold weather in the Midwest and the Northeast and continuing concerns over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, analysts said.

ron.white@latimes.com

Advertisement