Gas prices expected to remain high this summer


Gasoline costs in Southern California are anticipated to stay excessive all through this summer season trip season, pushed up by an increase in journey demand that started with a surge in street journeys over the Memorial Day weekend, consultants say.

The excellent news is that fuel costs are usually not prone to spike to final 12 months’s document excessive ranges when a gallon of unleaded peaked at greater than $6.

“Normally when demand is up, fuel costs go up,” stated Anlleyn Venegas, spokesperson for the American Vehicle Assn.

Heat temperatures and sunny skies through the summer season normally encourage vacationers to drive extra, and numbers from Memorial Day weekend point out motorists could also be simply as keen to get behind the wheel as they did earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic began, Venegas stated.

Costs spiked simply earlier than the Memorial Day weekend when 2.8 million Southern Californians traveled by automotive, a 6% improve over 2022.

That improve in demand is mirrored in the price of gasoline. In accordance with AAA, the typical price of a gallon of standard in Southern California is presently $4.87, a few cent greater than Tuesday, and 6 cents greater than every week earlier.

In some elements of the state, the typical price of a gallon is nearing $5.

Within the Los Angeles-Lengthy Seaside area, the typical price of a gallon of standard is $4.95, a 7-cent improve from final week. In Ventura County, a gallon of standard will set you again $4.99.

That’s a stark distinction from the nationwide common of $3.58 a gallon, a drop of three cents from a month earlier.

Gasoline costs could keep excessive through the summer season, however Venegas stated there are good indicators costs received’t attain 2022 ranges, when the price of a gallon of fuel soared previous $6. That 12 months, the price of a gallon of gasoline reached as excessive as $6.17.

California already switched to its summer season mix of gasoline in April, which reduces emissions however provides about 15 to twenty cents to the associated fee per gallon, Venegas stated.

“It did go up, which is regular,” she stated. “As quickly as summer season begins we see fuel costs go up due to demand.”

The price for crude oil is presently at $73 a barrel, which she stated will probably preserve costs considerably under 2022 costs.

“We don’t count on fuel costs to be as excessive as final 12 months,” she stated. “So long as crude oil costs are under $80 a barrel, fuel costs shouldn’t go as excessive as they went final 12 months.”