Gas Prices Hit All-Time Record High In California
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) -- It's official: the California state average for a gallon of gasoline has never been higher.
Data from GasBuddy - a national online gas-pricing information service - indicated California hit a new record high on Friday, edging out the previous record high of $4.588/gallon set on June 15, 2008.
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Individual cities across the state have also set record highs - including San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose in the Bay Area. In Southern California: Orange County, Riverside, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Ventura posted records. Other cities in the Golden State were close to all-time highs but had not yet surpassed them as of Friday afternoon.
The California Energy Commission noted gas prices statewide increased by an average of 17 cents a gallon on Friday.
"Prices at retail stations have skyrocketed in the last few days across all of California," said Patrick DeHaan, Senior Petroleum Analyst for GasBuddy.
"The increases come on the heel of various refinery issues, seemingly triggered by ExxonMobil's Torrence, California refinery suffering a power issue earlier in the week," DeHaan said in a statement. "According to ExxonMobil, the refinery in question has come back online, and retail prices may peak in the next few days."
State energy officials said the wholesale market had already peaked and California motorists were likely to start seeing gas price relief at the pumps sometime next week.
(Copyright 2012 CBS San Francisco. All rights reserved.)
