California Gas Prices Near $6 a Gallon as State Feels Sharpest Spike

Prices jump in California

California drivers are feeling the sharpest impact of the recent rise in gasoline prices, with the average price of a gallon reaching $5.82 on Tuesday, according to AAA. Nationally, the average was $3.98.

Prices have risen since the war in Iran began, but California has been hit especially hard. A month earlier, gas averaged $4.63 a gallon in the state and $2.95 nationally.

The gap means Californians are paying nearly $2 more per gallon than the national average.

Longstanding pressures on fuel costs

Gasoline prices have long been higher in California because the state uses a special fuel blend that releases less pollution when burned. California also imposes higher taxes and environmental fees than other states.

An analysis by the federal Energy Information Administration last March found that California’s 60-cents-a-gallon excise tax was more than twice the average for all states. Other state taxes and environmental costs add another 66 cents a gallon.

Those added costs have made California more vulnerable when fuel markets tighten.

Refinery losses add to strain

The war has also underscored a deeper problem in California’s fuel system: the state has lost almost three dozen oil refineries since the early 1980s. That decline has forced California to import fuel from as far away as Asia.

Critics of oil companies operating in California say refiners have taken advantage of crises like the war with Iran to raise prices. Others point to state policy and shrinking refining capacity as the larger cause of the problem.

“California was going to have a crisis before the crisis,” said Paul Sankey, president of Sankey Research, an oil and gas research company. “They strangle their supply side.”