Media Contact: Cynthia Harris

Emeryville, CA., October 16, 2012

After a week of skyrocketing gas prices, California is now starting to see an end to soaring prices, as major disruptions in the refinery supply chain get resolved throughout the state. Northern California gas prices rose over 50 cents in one month, in some parts of the region. According to the latest report from AAA Northern California, which tracks gas prices as a service to consumers, every metro area in Northern California saw an increase of at least 38 cents over the past month.

California’s average for a gallon of regular, unleaded gasoline is $4.67 up fifty cents since last month’s AAA report on September 11. For perspective, that’s 86 cents more than California’s average price on this date last year. Among all 50 states, California has the highest state average price for regular, unleaded gasoline. Hawaii is the second at $4.41.

Northern California gas prices are now averaging $4.63, up 45 cents from last month. In the San Francisco Bay Area, motorists can expect to pay an average price of $4.74, which is a 49 cent increase. The national average price of $3.82 is down two cents, which is 42 cents more than the national price on this date last year, when it was $3.40.

“Surging California gas prices made national headlines last week, due to a Monday power outage at the ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance, California, which sent wholesale gas prices through the roof,” says AAA Northern spokesperson Cynthia Harris. “Our already low gasoline supplies, approaching the October 31 end to summer-blend gasoline requirements, and combination of tight supply issues on the West Coast caused prices to skyrocket at the pump for consumers.”

On Friday afternoon, ExxonMobil announced that the refinery in Torrance had resumed normal operation, but California motorists were already feeling the pain at the pump. Over the weekend, California Governor Jerry Brown directed the California Air Resources Board to grant a waiver allowing the sale of winter-grade gasoline to help ease supply issues. Typically, the winter blend isn’t allowed to be used in most areas of California until the end of October. Some analysts have indicated that the waiver will provide relief from supply concerns related to summer-grade gasoline. Others have cautioned that there will not be an immediate impact on supplies, as refineries cannot quickly transition to producing the new blend of gasoline. That said. Wholesale gasoline prices in California have already started to lower, with the return of production at the Torrance refinery and the issuance of the gasoline waiver. This suggests that, barring additional regional issues, retail prices in California will also move lower in the coming days.

The least expensive average price in Northern California can be found in Sacramento, where regular is $4.53 per gallon in that metro area. Of all the metro areas in Northern California where gas prices are tracked by AAA, Eureka has the highest average price at $4.80. The least expensive gasoline in the country is found in the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, South Carolina, metro area. The average price of gas in that metro area is $3.45.

 AAA Monthly Gas Price Averages: October 9, 2012