Average Riverside County Gas Price Sets Record For 12th Consecutive Day

RIVERSIDE (CNS) – The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular
gasoline in Riverside County today set a record for the 12th consecutive day,
rising 2 cents to $6.269, extending its streak of increases to 13 consecutive
days.

The average price has risen 29.3 cents over the past 13 days,
including 3.6 cents Tuesday, according to figures from the AAA and the Oil
Price Information Service. It is 20.6 cents more than one week ago, 47.4 cents
higher than one month ago and $2.104 greater than one year ago.

The average price has risen $1.554 since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
on Feb. 24 "sent shock waves through the oil market that have kept oil costs
elevated," said Andrew Gross, an AAA national public relations manager.

Crude oil costs account for slightly more than half of the pump price,
according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The rest of the
price includes the other components of gasoline, production costs, distribution
costs, overhead costs for all involved in production, distribution and sales,
taxes and carbon offset fees in California paid by the refineries.

The national average price rose 3.6 cents to $4.955, its 12th
consecutive record and 16th in 17 days. It has increased 36.2 cents over the
past 17 days, including 5.4 cents Tuesday.

"After a blistering week of gas prices jumping in nearly every town,
city, state and area possible, more bad news is on the horizon. It now appears
not if, but when, we’ll hit that psychologically critical $5 national
average," said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, which
provides real-time gas price information from more than 150,000 stations.

"Gasoline inventories continue to decline even with demand softening
due to high prices, a culmination of less refining capacity than we had prior
to COVID and strong consumption, a situation that doesn’t look to improve
drastically anytime soon."

Copyright 2022, City News Service, Inc.

CNS-06-08-2022 03:05