Sacramento gas prices fall again, uncertain outlook ahead

Gas prices in the Sacramento area fell 10.2 cents over the past week, the latest late-winter gyration that even has experts scratching their heads.

The average price of gas in the region has fallen nearly 15 cents in the past two weeks, coming on the heels of a nearly $1 spike the previous five weeks.

“Gasoline trends are all over the place, depending on where in the country motorists are,” said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for national gas price tracker GasBuddy.com. “The coming week shows nothing guaranteed but uncertainty...”

GasBuddy said the current average retail price of gasoline in the Sacramento area is $3.13 a gallon. That’s about 36 cents higher than it was one month ago but 68.1 cents lower than the year-ago average.

The national average price of $2.42 a gallon was virtually unchanged from last week. It’s up 12.1 cents from last month but $1.10.6 less than one year ago.

California gas prices surged in February due to disruptions at key refineries, refinery conversions to pricier spring-summer gas blends and skyrocketing wholesale costs. DeHaan said wholesale costs have retreated dramatically, and the price of crude oil has remained relatively low, at around $50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

He also noted that oil inventories are reaching historic highs, a development that could produce the lowest summer gasoline prices since 2010.

This story was originally published March 23, 2015 at 11:00 AM with the headline "Sacramento gas prices fall again, uncertain outlook ahead."