Gasoline prices have rocketed to all-time highs in the Bay Area, dealing motorists an economic jolt as they approach the starting line for holiday trips.
A review of stats posted at the AAA gasoline price survey website shows that gasoline prices on Monday reached an all-time high in the Bay Area.
“The price of crude oil has reached a seven-year high, the demand for oil has exploded, the price has exploded,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis with GasBuddy, an online site that tracks the gasoline sector. “That’s why gasoline prices are at a record high.”
Oil production scaled back dramatically because demand evaporated starting in March 2020 due to the coronavirus-linked business shutdowns. Now, the reverse is true.
“Oil production shut down because people weren’t consuming it, but how oil demand is through the roof,” De Haan said. “In many cases, oil demand is back to pre-pandemic levels.”
The record costs for unleaded gasoline are a forbidding reminder of the latest economic woes to batter the nine-county region in the wake of the coronavirus.
“The prices are crazy, they are ridiculous,” said Ricky Vera, a Fremont resident who was filling up his vehicle at a gas station in his hometown. “I get gas here because I think they’re the cheapest prices in the East Bay. But $5 a gallon is ridiculous.”
Unleaded was $4.65 a gallon on Monday at this gas station at the corner of Warm Springs Road and East Warren Avenue.
“I have family in Las Vegas and they pay $5 a gallon for supreme,” Vera said. “We have places in the Bay Area that are $5 for regular gasoline.”
Here’s how high average prices are for regular unleaded gasoline in the Bay Area’s three major metro regions, and how they compare to the prices of a year ago, according to Triple-A:
— San Jose average gas prices were $4.76 a gallon on Monday, up 46.6% from a year ago.
— Oakland prices on Monday were $4.78, up 45% from the same day in 2020.
— San Francisco prices were $4.87 a gallon on Monday, up 42.9% from a year ago.
— California set an all-time record on Monday of $4.68 a gallon, up 47.8% from the same date last year.
“The gasoline prices are very high, but I can’t do anything about them,” said Kevin Burke, a San Jose resident who was leaving a Fremont gas station on Monday. “The oil companies and petroleum producers are making a pretty penny from us while we have to pay these high prices.”
Paolo Caltagirone, a San Mateo resident, said he was shocked to see during a recent visit to Hawaii that gasoline in the tropical archipelago was less expensive than in the Bay Area.
“I can’t believe how high the prices are here,” said Caltagirone as he filled up in Fremont. “I think one reason the prices are so high is that California and (Governor) Gavin Newsom have added some gasoline taxes.”
An increase of about 6 cents a gallon for California gasoline taxes that went into effect in July 2021 means that motorists in California are now paying 51 cents a gallon in state gas excise taxes, according to the state Department of Tax and Fee Administration.
The cost of unleaded gasoline in the United States might seem like a pleasant fairy tale compared to the grim reality of gasoline prices in the Bay Area.
The nationwide average for gasoline was $3.42 a gallon on Monday, Triple-A reported.
Average gasoline prices in the United States are up a head-spinning 60.6% over the one-year period that ended on Monday.
Miguel Delgado was filling up his vehicle in Oakland on Monday and said he spends hundreds of dollars in fuel per week when he commutes between his residence in San Bernardino County and the Bay Area where he installs solar panels.
“That’s money we could be using for our families,” Delgado said. “Money is tight right now.”
Among the reasons money is so tight at present: Inflation is rising at an annual pace of 3.8% in the Bay Area, which is more than double the 1.6% rate of increase in consumer prices that was posted in January of this year.
Besides the economic misery unleashed by the rising gasoline prices, in the Bay Area, over the one-year period that ended in October, used vehicle costs zoomed 25.6%; natural gas piped into the home hopped 21.7% higher; meat, poultry, fish and egg prices soared 13.6%; electricity used at home was 9.1% more expensive; and food costs overall jumped 5.6%, driven primarily by an increase of 7.1% for food consumed at home.
Vera, the Fremont resident, said he will do what he can to cope with the skyrocketing gasoline prices, but he won’t necessarily cut back on other items.
“I try to travel less,” Vera said. “I run as many errands as I can on one gas tank.”
Staff writer Eliyahu Kamisher contributed to this report
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