Soaring Napa County Gas Prices Set New Record: Report

NAPA COUNTY, CA — Soaring Napa County gas prices have slipped into record-setting territory, and pain at the pump only figures to get worse in the coming months.

The average cost for a gallon of gas in Napa County eclipsed the $5 plateau for the first time, SFGate reports.

Vladimir Putin’s Russia’s full-blown invasion of Ukraine has triggered the most recent surge in gas prices, exacerbating costs that were already soaring amid growing demand as the nation emerged from the pandemic.

The average cost for a gallon of gas in Napa County on Thursday hit $5.109 according to the report, which cites AAA.

Napa is among five Bay Area counties that have broken the $5 barrier. Marin ($5.071) San Francisco ($5.067), San Mateo ($5.042) and Sonoma ($5.087) are the others.

Alameda ($4.999), Contra Costa ($4.976) and Santa Clara ($4.974) counties are hot on their heels according to the report.

The price of crude oil has swelled over 70 percent over the past year, and industry analysts say could hit $130 a barrel, The Washington Post reports.

The U.S. and other world powers earlier this week announced plans to tap strategic reserves for 60 million barrels of oil in an effort to stabilize fuel costs, The Post reports.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday joined a bipartisan call to ban imports of Russian oil, a move that if implemented over an extended period, would likely lead to dramatically higher fuel costs.

Pelosi joined Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) in calling for the ban.
"I'm all for that. Ban it,” Pelosi said. Ban the oil coming from Russia."

Read more at SFGate