California gas prices up 23 cents in past week

Gas prices skyrocketed an astonishing 23 cents in a week in California, to $ 4.14 a gallon, and are on a sharp rise across the country, setting off loud grumbling Thursday from motorists and prompting President Barack Obama to fire back at critics who blame him.

The current California price is the highest it has been at this time of year, and analysts predict $ 4.50- or even $ 5-a-gallon gas by Memorial Day. Some Bay Area stations raised prices by 15 cents a gallon between Wednesday and Thursday, and more increases are likely in the next few days.

While tensions with Iran sent crude oil costs to over $ 107 a barrel — the highest since May — refinery shutdowns on the West Coast are causing a particular problem in California, where the biggest increases have occurred.

A massive fire has disabled Washington’s largest refinery since Friday, and a longer-than-expected maintenance closure at the Tesoro refinery in Martinez has slowed the flow of fuel to stations throughout the West.
Confronted by the political peril of surging gas prices in an election year, Obama on Thursday defended his efforts to wean the United States off imported oil even as he said that there is little he can do immediately about gas prices. He addressed students at the University of Miami, in a key battleground state where the average price of gasoline is $ 3.75 a gallon.

“Just like last year, gas prices are climbing across the country,” Obama said. “This time,
it’s happening even earlier. And when gas prices go up, it hurts everybody.”

That same hurt was being felt at the Sunol Super Stop at the Andrade Road exit off Interstate 680, where paying cash meant paying $ 4.05 a gallon — which passes for a bargain these days.

Still, Les Mael, of Fremont, put only $ 9.80 worth of gas in his Honda Accord as he prepared to drive to Modesto. Why so little?

“I know another station in Modesto where I’m hoping it’s cheaper,” he said. “What worries me is that summer is coming and that’s when prices go even higher.”

The frustration extended to the station attendant, Cristian Morales.

“People get mad and think it is our fault,” he said. “But it’s not. We try to be cheaper than most stations, but we’ve gone up 50 cents in two weeks. I understand their anger.”

Twenty of the 25 California cities surveyed daily by AAA listed prices below $ 4 a gallon last Friday. By Thursday, only Yuba City was under that figure, at $ 3.99 a gallon.

Ordinarily, prices rise when demand is high or supply is low. But the U.S. Department of Energy reported that the four-week demand for refined petroleum products fell to its lowest level since April 1997. And crude inventories were at their highest level since September of last year.

What’s driving up the price of crude this time is the fear that Iran’s nuclear ambitions and Israel’s threat of military action will destabilize the Middle East, plus a conviction that demand will increase as the world economy continues to grow.

GOP presidential rivals took aim at Obama during Wednesday night’s debate in Arizona.

“I’ve developed a program for American energy so no future president will ever bow to a Saudi king again, and so every American can look forward to $ 2.50-a-gallon gasoline,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said.

At the same event, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum — who has warned of $ 5-a-gallon gas — asserted that “we have a lot of troubles around the world, as you see the Middle East in flames and what’s going on in this country with gas prices and the economy.”

Obama drew a sharp contrast with his rivals, whom he ridiculed for recycling a “three-point plan for $ 2 gas.”

“Step one is to drill, and step two is to drill, and step three is to keep drilling,” Obama said.

Lee Willis, of Livermore, took aim at political leaders as he filled his car at the Sunol station, saying he blamed “the government, which has prevented drilling more of our own oil supplies. Ten years ago they wanted to drill in Alaska, but the government said, ‘Oh, that won’t make any difference for 10 years.’ Well, it’s 10 years later.”

Could gas reach $ 5 a gallon? Some analysts say that’s not far-fetched. The one-day record in California is $ 4.61, set June 19, 2008.

Paul Wanless, of San Jose, said he hopes prices will turn downward. But when he drove past the Shell station at Calaveras Boulevard and South Park Victoria in Milpitas on Tuesday, gas was selling for $ 3.99. By Wednesday morning, it was $ 4.15. On Thursday, $ 4.19.

And Friday?

The New York Times and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact Gary Richards at 408-920-5335.

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FUEL COSTS ACCELERATING

$ 4.14/gallon

Average California gas price as of Thursday, an increase of 23 cents in a week. Experts say prices could reach $ 4.50 or $ 5 by the Memorial Day weekend.

Source: AAA