Californians paying highest gas prices this spring

Summer is approaching fast and across the nation the Americans are paying more at the pumps now. Californians are paying the highest for the gas. For the first time in past five years the prices have gone up to as much as $4.

It is true the Californian gas is never cheap as it adheres to strict environmental standards, but currently the reason for such a high price is different.

Unexpected maintenance problems in local refineries are the real problem. Gas is now being sourced from elsewhere and hence cost of transportation is being added up with the price.

On Wednesday the gas prices in California was $4.01 in average and on Thursday it was $4.02. This price is the highest since July 2014.

Nationwide the prices rose to $2.84 this week, about $10 cents more from the price of 2018 in the same month.

AAA spokesperson Jeanette Casselano said, “We are seeing very expensive gas prices for this time of year across the country.”

Usually gas prices rise every spring as most of the US refineries closes operations to begin production on summer blends of gasoline.

GasBuddy senior petroleum analyst Dan McTeague said, “It’s compounded problems, which is why we saw prices explode.”

There are a total of ten refineries in California and six of those follow the maintenance schedule or else undergo unexpected repairs.