PHOENIX — The high temperature may be going down in the Valley, but gas prices are going up.
After a late summer break of sky-high prices, Phoenix gas stations are averaging above $5 for a gallon of regular fuel.
The increases are not just a phenomenon happening in Arizona.
A map of average gas prices in the country by the gas tracking firm GasBuddy shows prices in western states are much higher than in the rest of the country.
Gasbuddy analyst Patrick De Haan wrote on social media he has not seen a wider difference between the average of the lowest priced 10% of gas stations and the highest 10%: $2.91 compared to $6.17 — a spread of more than three dollars.
The difference in price between the nation's top 10% priced stations and bottom 10% is the widest I've ever seen and could likely be a record.
— Patrick De Haan ⛽️📊 (@GasBuddyGuy) October 4, 2022
Bottom 10% avg $2.91/gal
Top 10% avg $6.17/gal#gasprices
De Haan attributes the spread to refinery issues in California.
ABC15 looked at weekly data published by California regulators and found that recent oil inputs in southern California refineries are frequently among the lowest since 2018.
The stock of gasoline at refineries specifically formulated for export to states like Arizona and Nevada is also extremely low.
Last week's gasoline stock on hand was the lowest of the year at 565,000 barrels of “non-California gas.”
Arizona gets about 60% of its gasoline from Southern California with most of it going to the Phoenix area.
The shortages have pushed the average price for a gallon of gas in the Phoenix metro to $5.07, according to AAA. It's a penny higher than the day before, $0.53 more than a week before, and over a $1 increase since last month. According to AAA, the record daily average for gasoline in Phoenix was set on June 15 of this year at $5.68.
Patrick De Haan does believe that prices will start to trend down in the short term as California refinery issues are resolved.
Last week, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order allowing refineries to switch to the cheaper “winter blend” of gasoline earlier, which normally occurs on November 1.
While this is good news for Arizona, OPEC is signaling a production cut, causing the cost of crude oil to begin increasing.
Oil is by far the largest component of what you pay at the pump.
