Every day it seems to get worse.
Gas prices climbing 12 cents one day, then another 10 cents, then 5 more overnight.
Now we’re looking at more than 40 cents in one week, bringing the average well above 3 dollars a gallon.
So what are the reasons behind the pain at the pump? The number one answer is refineries.
The Torrance Refinery was taken offline on February 18th after an explosion. Also, it is spring maintenance time, so another refinery in northern California was also taken offline that same week.
Together, those refineries produce a big percentage of the state’s gas. So with low supply, that means we’re stuck paying more for every gallon.
“50, 45, 50 okay— what is going on with the gas prices?” asked Nilo Mohe as he was buying gas.
“There’s no stability in this country so it’s like up and down every month!” said another man at the pump, John Dapiaoen.
Not every month John, try every week! According to gasbuddy.com Sacramento gas prices have increased 42 cents since last week, mainly because of the Exxon Mobile refinery explosion in southern California and labor unrest at a refinery in Martinez.
Experts say the two facilities make up 17% of the state’s crude oil processing capacity.
“I left on Thursday to Colorado to go snowboarding, and I just got back this morning and it was up about 40 cents,” said Randy Kush.
The bump in prices comes after a gas tax cut last Tuesday. The Board of Equalization decided to lower the per gallon excise tax from 36 cents to 30 cents, but that doesn’t take effect until July 1st.
So in the meantime, consumers will just have to bite the bullet.
Some people are optimistic. Sure, from a week ago, the prices have jumped, but we are still far from those $4-gallon days.
“Before, I was spending like 40-50 dollars just to full tank this car, Now its much cheaper actually. Now, its about 25-35 now,” said Dapiaoen.
“It’s still lower than it was in a long time, so I’m not too mad about it because it can be a lot worse,” added Kush.
