California gasoline prices rising toward $4 again

Gasoline prices in California are on their way back to $4 a gallon.

California refinery outages have prompted an increase in wholesale gasoline prices that is now being felt by drivers at the pump, the Automobile Club of Southern California reported.

The state average was $3.958 a gallon for regular Thursday – 11.7 cents higher than last week, AAA reported.

In the Los Angeles-Long Beach region, the average price of self-serve gasoline is $3.994 a gallon, 11.7 cents higher than last week, but 18 cents lower than this time last year. The average price in San Diego is $3.96, 10.2 cents higher than last week. On the Central Coast, the average price is $4.021, while drivers in Riverside and San Bernardino counties are paying $3.942.

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“Other states are seeing gas price decreases, but because California’s fuel supply is limited mainly to its own refineries, any production issues at them immediately send pump prices soaring,” said Auto Club spokesman Jeffrey Spring. “In the past week, three Northern California refineries and one in Southern California have reported outages affecting production.”

Things have been worse. Here are the record highs for several Southern California regions:

Los Angeles/Long Beach, $4.705 on Oct. 9, 2012; Orange County, $4.69 on Oct. 8, 2012; San Diego, $4.725 on Oct. 8, 2012; Riverside/San Bernardino, $4.688 on Oct. 8, 2012.

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