NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Skyrocketing price jumps at the pump mean consumers are dealing with gas prices they haven’t seen since 2008, according to the latest report from AAA Northern California, which tracks gas prices as a service to consumers.

California now has the highest state average gas price among all 50 states.

According to AAA’s report, every Northern California metro area tracked by AAA saw a major, double digit increase at the pump over the past month.

The Golden State’s average for a gallon of regular, unleaded gasoline is $3.91, up 50 cents since last month’s report on February 8. For perspective, that’s 84 cents higher than California’s average price on this date last year.

Northern California gas prices are now averaging $3.90, up 48 cents from last month.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, motorists can expect to pay an average price of $3.96, which is a 48-cent increase.

The national average price of $3.52 is up by 40 cents, which is 77 cents more than the national price on this date last year, when it was $2.75.

“Largely due to unrest in the Middle East, investors have been willing to speculate that prices will increase further and that they will be able to make a profit on the product they are purchasing today. As a result, oil and gasoline prices have moved significantly higher,” explained AAA Northern California spokesperson Matt Skryja. “Until this uncertainty is removed from the market we can expect both crude oil and gasoline prices to continue to rise in the coming days and weeks.”

There have been recent calls for President Obama to combat high fuel prices by tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).

The SPR is an emergency stockpile of 726.6 million barrels of crude oil that the United States has on hand to protect the country from petroleum supply interruptions.

This has been used twice for emergency situations. The first time was in 1991 at the beginning of Desert Storm and the second time was in 2005, following Hurricane Katrina.

While there have been increasing calls for the president to tap the SPR, with the intent to lower the high fuel prices, analysts differ on the impact of such an action.

The SPR is a tool designed and suited to address an energy supply interruption. However, the current situation leaves no supply domestic shortage for a SPR drawdown to fill.

Recent prices increases have been driven by investor demands, not traditional supply and demand factors.

The least expensive average price in Northern California can be found in Modesto, where regular is $3.84.

Of all the metro areas in Northern California where gas prices are tracked by AAA, Eureka’s average price of $4.06 is the highest. It’s also the highest price reported by AAA in the lower 48 states.

The least expensive gasoline in the country is found in Casper, Wyoming, where for the second consecutive month the average price of gas is $3.02. Wailuku, Hawaii, holds the dubious crown for the highest average price in the nation, at $4.13 per gallon.

One way consumers can reduce the amount of money they spend on fuel is to shop aggressively for the lowest price. AAA now offers text alerts via mobile phone for low gas prices in your area. Sign up today at www.aaa.com/gas.

AAA’s Fuel Gauge Report is the most comprehensive retail gasoline survey available, with over 100,000 self-serve stations surveyed everyday, nationwide. Data is provided in cooperation with OPIS Energy Group and Wright Express, LLC.

AAA Northern California offers a wide array of automotive, travel, insurance, DMV, financial services and consumer discounts to nearly 4 million members. AAA has been a leader and advocate for the safety and security of all travelers since it was founded more than 100 years ago.

Details

Written by: Editor

Published: 08 March 2011