Gas Prices Inch Upward As San Francisco Bay Area Emerges From COVID-19 Shelter In Place
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- If there has been a smallest of silver linings to the nearly four months Bay Area residents have been sheltering in place, it was plunging prices at the gas pump.
As the COVID-19 restrictions are easing, the California State Automobile Association has been seen prices at the pump being to rise again as more Californians are hitting the road as they return to their shuttered offices and business.
According to the CSAA, the average price of a gallon of gas in California has now just short of $3 at $2.99. Quite a rise from a month ago when a gallon of gas cost on average $2.10.
In San Francisco, the average price at the pump for a gallon of regular unleaded gas was $3.151 -- up from $3.10 a week ago and $2.98 a month ago.
Oakland drivers have seen a similar rise to $3.07 a gallon on Sunday as compared to $3.02 a week ago and $2.86 a month ago.
CSAA said in San Jose, as of Sunday, the average price of gas was $3.08 as compared to $3.04 a week ago and $2.87 a month ago.
Soaring gas prices are nothing new for California drivers as the summer months approach and the refineries switch over to a summer blend of gasolines.
A year ago, a gallon of regular gas in San Francisco in the first week of June was priced at $3.96.
Nationwide, industry analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg Survey, said the average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline had risen 11 cents over the past two weeks, to $2.16 per gallon.
She said the jump came as crude oil costs increased.