Blame It on the Summer Blend, Gas Prices Spike in SoCal

The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles and Orange counties recorded their largest daily increases since July 14 on Friday.

The Los Angeles County average price rose 7.8 cents to $2.439 and the Orange County average price increased 9 cents to $2.436, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service.

“Pump prices in coming days will be affected by the summer blend of fuel, although that blend is not even being sold yet,” said Jeffrey Spring, the Automobile Club of Southern California’s corporate communications manager.

“Los Angeles fuel wholesale prices jumped 51 cents on Wednesday, mainly because of futures investments for March gasoline. Also, refineries are having distribution problems with the summer blend of gasoline.”

Regulations require most Southern California gas stations to switch to selling summer blend fuel by April 1. The summer blend gasoline reduces air pollution in warmer temperatures and is more expensive to produce.

Winter blend gasoline begins being sold on Nov. 1. Both the Los Angeles and Orange County average prices had dropped 49 of the past 50 days. The Los Angeles County average price dropped 71.4 cents during that period to its lowest amount since May 6, 2009, while the Orange County average price dropped 72.3 cents to its lowest amount since May 5, 2009.

--City News Service, photo via Shutterstock