Sacramento gas prices rise 13 cents in a week; Los Angeles sees 19-cent overnight spike

The average retail price of gasoline in Sacramento jumped 13 cents over the past week, coming in Monday at $3.35 a gallon, according to national gas price tracker GasBuddy.com.

GasBuddy predicted the surge last Wednesday following release of a report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the agency that monitors energy data, including the supply of stocks of motor gasoline and gas-blending components. The agency reported a gasoline inventory decline of more than 1 million barrels, and that overseas fuel imports to California had fallen to zero for the first time since March.

That sent wholesale fuel prices skyrocketing. Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy, immediately predicted at-the-pump cost spikes of up to 20 cents a gallon in Northern California over a week’s time.

Compared with Southern California price hikes, Northern California got off easy. On Monday, the average retail price of gas in Los Angeles was $4.14 a gallon, a whopping 19-cent overnight increase and up nearly 60 cents from one week ago. That helped push the statewide average to $3.76, up from 32 cents from last week.

In comparison, the national average on Monday was $2.77 a gallon.

“Areas of California have set new records for highest single-day price increase, and prices will continue to advance for a few more days before things cool off,” DeHaan said.

This story was originally published July 13, 2015 at 9:29 PM with the headline "Sacramento gas prices rise 13 cents in a week; Los Angeles sees 19-cent overnight spike."