The price of gas at one California station is rapidly approaching a previously unthinkable $10 per gallon.
Prices are hovering around $9.50 per gallon at a Chevron station in a rural area of Mendocino. The nearly double-digit price tag on a gallon of gas is perhaps the highest yet recorded in the ongoing oil crisis gripping the United States.
The owner of the Chevron spoke to Fox 11 Los Angeles about the difficulties of selling gas in rural parts of California, where he claims transportation and pipeline access have made his gasoline astronomical.
Aldo Vazquez, who works at AAA Northern California, says it costs more to bring gas to this rural area, so that company has to charge more to stay in business.
“When you factor in transportation costs, the proximity to pipelines, those can also add up to the price of gasoline,” Vaszquez said on Monday. “That’s why we always recommend doing your research because if you can find a different route, you may end up in an area with cheaper prices.”
It’s still expensive to buy gas elsewhere in the country, but way less expensive than California, which has the highest average in the nation hovering around $6.40 a gallon, according to AAA. The national average is about $5 a gallon and the lowest average is in Georgia, at $4.41 a gallon.
Gas prices in particular are becoming even more unaffordable, up a whopping 48.7% since last year and 4.1% just in the last month.
To put those numbers into context, a gallon of gas currently costs $4.99 on average in the U.S. overall, according to AAA.
Residents of some states are feeling the burn even more: In Illinois, the average price of a gallon of gas is $5.56, according to AAA. In Nevada, it’s $5.62. In California, the average price of gas is $6.42 per gallon — but in Mendocino, at least one gas station is charging nearly $10 per gallon.
Gas prices remain a major issue for Americans, many of whom rely on their cars to get to work. Plus, as summer driving season gets into full swing, some may wish to use their cars even more.
The raising rates come despite recent efforts from the The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to ramp up oil output to refuel the country’s refineries – whose stock has reached crisis levels in recent weeks.
The oil coalition on Thursday agreed to boost it output by 648,000 barrels per day (bpd) a month in July and August – rather than the 432,000 officials had previously promised.
Supplies at the US’ refineries, however, remain tight. On Thursday, a US weekly inventory report showed crude stock had fallen by a more-than-expected 5.1 million barrels. Gasoline inventories have also dropped to dangerous levels.
All the while, demand for fuel has continued to rise – most recently due to the fact that China’s business hub Shanghai and capital, Beijing, have relaxed COVID restrictions following strict lockdown orders that have persisted for months.
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