It has been found that gas prices in regions of California have risen to nearly $10 per gallon, as costs continue to rise amid historic inflation.
According to AAA, petrol prices touched a national average of $4.76 overnight Friday, an increase of roughly 20 cents in a week.
On the West Coast of the United States, the pain at the pump is even worse, with Californians paying an average of $6.24 cents per gallon, which is also a record high. Petrol prices in the state reached $6 for the first time in history over the weekend.
With that said, some sections of California have been hit more than others by the fuel price crisis, with one station in Mendocino, along the California coast, clocking rates just pennies shy of $10 – the highest ever recorded.
Schlafer’s Auto Repair is one of tens of thousands of petrol stations around the country that have seen their prices skyrocket during the Biden administration.
The tariff hikes come despite recent efforts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to increase oil supply in order to refuel the country’s refineries, which have seen their stockpiles reach crisis levels in recent weeks.
Experts remain adamant that costs will continue to rise during the summer, warning the national average will likely surpass $6 before fall – spurring many would-be travelers to stay put during the typically rampant driving season.
‘It’s really frustrating,’ Arizona mom Laura Dena told Fox 5 NY Friday of the rising fuel costs, which she says have hindered her and her family’s travel plans this summer.
She said she and her sons typically travel to Southern California around Memorial Day weekend to escape scorching heat seen in her home state.
However, now that it more than $100 to fill up her truck, she says she has begrudgingly decided to stay home.
‘It’s upsetting,’ Dena said. ‘But there’s not much we can do.’
She told the outlet: ‘We have to pay the price.’
Late last month, JPMorgan analysts predicted that the national average will hit $6 by the end of the summer.
‘There is a real possibility that the price might hit $6+ a gallon by August,’ said Natasha Kaneva, head of global oil and commodities research at the major investment bank.
The alarming prediction comes as US petrol prices have soared to previously unheard-of heights under Joe Biden’s presidency.
The current average gasoline price in the United States is $4.58 a gallon, over double the $2.41 average seen during former President Donald Trump’s final month in office.
The figure surpassed Wednesday’s previous high of $4.567, which surpassed Tuesday’s high of $4.523, which surpassed Monday’s high of $4.470.
Since then, the price of gas has risen to $4 a gallon in each of the 50 states, a dubious feat never before achieved.
California has already surpassed the $6 mark, with a state average of $6.061 on Thursday. The sudden surge has also been ascribed to oil supplier Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Costs have risen steadily since Biden’s election in November 2020, but skyrocketed earlier this year with the invasion of Ukraine, with gas prices rising by at least 27% in only three months.
Meanwhile, while the European Union considers imposing oil sanctions on Russia in response to the country’s military operations in the Ukraine, the issue of rising fuel costs has been exacerbated by high inflation under Biden’s administration.
And, with US gasoline inventories at their lowest seasonal levels since 2019, JPMorgan expects the situation to worsen in the coming months, admitting that meeting consumer demand for gas will be difficult during this summer’s driving season, when millions of American families are likely to take trips and vacations.
‘With projections of strong driving demand…US retail prices could soar another 37 percent by August,’ the bank stated in a study titled ‘Cruel Summer,’ which was recently issued.
‘Typically, refiners manufacture extra gasoline ahead of the summer road-trip season, building up inventories,’ Morgan analysts stated in their warning.
‘However, since mid-April, US gasoline inventories have declined in an anti-seasonal fashion.’
JPMorgan also cautioned that East Coast gasoline inventories are at their lowest in more than a decade, owing to higher-than-normal gasoline exports driven by rising gas prices in Europe – a worsening of the US trend.
Fuel supplies at US and Canadian refineries that supply Eastern US gas stations have reached critical levels, possibly dipping below those seen in 2008, the country’s worst recession since the Great Depression.
‘Gasoline inventories could continue to draw to levels below 2008 lows, and retail gasoline prices could climb to $6/gallon or even higher if exports continue at this high pace and refinery runs – already near the top range for reasonable utilization rates – fall within our expectations,’ the analysts wrote.
According to the researchers, overall US gasoline supplies might soon plummet to levels not seen since the 1950s, causing petrol prices to skyrocket even more.
According to the analysts, a drop in gas supplies would result in a 37 percent increase in costs, resulting in a national average of around $6.20 per gallon.
According to the Energy Information Administration, at those levels, gas prices would surpass their inflation-adjusted high of $5.38 set in June 2008, when prices were $4.11 unadjusted.
Morgan warns that unless refineries ‘quickly’ stop exporting most of their gasoline and convert to making their own, ‘US consumers should not expect significant relief in pump prices before the end of the year.’