As gasoline prices rise, California gets hit harder at the pump than other states

Californians are feeling more pain at the pump than any other state as the conflict with Iran drives up prices.

Spencer Shearer was filling up his Nissan Sentra Friday morning at a Chevron station in Brentwood near San Vicente and Montana avenues and paying the highest price anywhere in the country: $5.55 per gallon.

“It’s crazy,” Shearer said as he watched his bill on the tap tick up to $50.

With the ongoing conflict in and around Iran, fuel prices are rising. In the Los Angeles area and several areas around the San Francisco Bay, gas prices have broken the $5-per-gallon mark and are rising to $6 in a few areas.

The widespread conflict in the Persian Gulf has had a predictable but unacceptable impact on California drivers. Californians generally pay more for gas than people in other states.

Its price position continues its recent rise.

The average cost of a gallon of regular gas in California is about $4.91, up 26 cents from last week and 48 cents from last month, according to AAA. The current national average is about $3.32 per gallon.

The conflict with Iran has halted movements in the Persian Gulf and lowered the price of a barrel of oil.

Prices in California are higher than in other states because of higher taxes and stricter requirements for cleaner, more expensive, less polluting gas. This is a hot topic not only for the industry but also for consumers.

Gasoline marketers, gas station owners, and other voters have criticized Gov. Gavin Newsom’s policies.

Newsom told regulators by 2021 to stop issuing permits and to end oil production by 2045. He also signed a bill that allows local governments to ban the construction of oil and gas wells. He appeared to soften his stance last year and signed a bill allowing up to 2,000 new oil wells a year by 2036 in Kern County, which produces about three-quarters of the state’s crude oil.

Due to policies that appear to be aimed at punishing oil producers, California has seen a steady decline in crude oil production, making it increasingly dependent on oil and gasoline from outside the state.

By 2024, only 23% of the crude oil refined in the state was pumped from California, with 13% from Alaska and 63% from elsewhere in the world, including about 30% from the Middle East, according to the Western States Petroleum Assn.

The main reason gasoline prices in California are high is that refinery shutdowns are reducing local supply while demand remains high, said Zachary Leary, senior lobbyist for the Western Petroleum Association.

“National events … show and highlight how fragile we are here in California,” he said.

California’s special fuel blends are increasingly being imported from abroad and require more than a month to ship, he added.

Supply constraints have been exacerbated by recent refinery shutdowns, including the Phillips 66 refinery in Wilmington in October and the shutdown and restructuring of the Valero refinery in Benicia, which reduced refining capacity in the state by nearly 20%.

It’s hard to predict how long these price increases will last, said Severin Borenstein, director of the Energy Institute at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

“We don’t know if the war will be prolonged or ended quickly,” said Severin Borenstein, director of the Energy Institute at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. “Those things will create a price for pollution.”

At a Brentwood gas station, product manager Conner Uretsky, 30, waits while his partner fills up her Toyota Prius before a trip to Palm Springs. Recently, he said the increase in fuel costs has made him think twice about going on road trips.

Uretsky, who moved to Los Angeles from the East Coast about six years ago, said he was initially shocked by the region’s high cost of living.

“Gas prices are crazy,” Uretsky said.

Paula, a writer who declined to give her last name, said she was “furious” about President Trump’s decision to start a war with Iran, as well as his recent actions in Venezuela and threats against Greenland and Cuba.

“If you look at who is paying for this war, we are,” he said, pointing to the sign of the end of the fuel price while waiting for his hybrid Volvo SUV to fill up with fuel.

Business analyst Shearer says he should be more careful with his gas budget. A business analyst tries to find cheap gas near his home in Los Angeles. Still, he’s used to California’s high prices.

“It feels normal to pay this amount,” he said.

Times staff writer Laurence Darmiento contributed to this article