LA, OC Gas Prices Up More Than 30 Cents Since Last Week
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — It's not a hallucination – Los Angeles-area gas prices are really up more than 30 cents since last week.
The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gas in Los Angeles County is 32 cents more than a week ago and 30.7 cents higher than a month ago, but it's still a whopping 76.2 centers less than a year ago.
Gas prices have gone up 43.3 cents over the past 14 days, including a 3.6 cent spike on Tuesday and another 3.8 cents Wednesday, according to figures AAA and Oil Price Information Service.
Orange County's gas prices are also up 3.8 cents to $3.557, 32.8 cents more than a week ago, 34 cents more than a month ago, but 76 cents less than a year ago. Orange County's price hike was higher at 46.4 centers over the past 14 days of increases.
Industry analysts blame the latest spike on a temporary maintenance shutdown of the Chevron refinery in El Segundo announced on Wednesday.
But Liza Tucker of ConsumerWatchdog.org says that's not the whole story.
"The refineries actually keep our market starved. They do it on purpose," she said.
Tucker attributes the problem to refineries not keeping reserves and says that when there is a shutdown, it forces companies to buy more expensive gas on the open market.
ConsumerWatchdog.org spoke to California lawmakers last month asking them to change the system.
"They need to mandate that we keep higher amounts of inventory on hand and the second thing they need to mandate is transparency," she said.
But spokespersons for the oil industry say reserves are expensive.
"The risk of holding that material and not making money on it has increased and secondly the cost of the storage is significant," said Jay McKeeman of the California Independent Oil Marketers at a hearing back in March.
If the trend continues, industry analysts like GasBuddy.com expect prices to reach $4 a gallon within the next couple of weeks. To find the lowest gas prices in your area, visit cbsla.com/gas.
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