Marin drivers lament as California gas prices surge

“The prices are so high and it’s hard because I’m a single mom,” said Mikayaa Williams of Marin City. “I’ll be feeling like I can’t go to work because I don’t have enough gas.”

Bay Area gas prices are surging yet again, causing consternation for commuters who already pay more than the inflated state average.

Regional gas prices are as much as 20 to 30 cents per gallon higher than the state average and at least $2 per gallon more than the rest of the nation, according to the latest data from the American Automobile Association. The national average on Tuesday was $3.67 a gallon, compared to $5.42 in California — the highest in the U.S., according to AAA.

A month ago, the state average was $4.98. A year ago, the average was $4.89. In Marin County, the average gas price for regular unleaded is $5.63.

John Treanor, AAA’s Northern California spokesperson, called the state “a little bit of an outlier.” Treanor said part of the price spike is due to seasonal demand as the weather warms and travel picks up.

Prices are further inflated by the switch to more expensive summer blend that is formulated with air quality in mind and market forces that drive up the price of crude oil such as tension in the Middle East.

“The rest of the country is seeing a leveling out of prices,” he said. “We are starting to see a leveling out in California as well. But in the Bay Area, it’s not as much. Not yet.”

Reaction in Marin on Tuesday ranged from exasperation to anger.

Linda Battaglia, a retiree living in San Rafael, said she only fills up her BMW-X1 about once a month. At the Gulf gas station in San Rafael on Tuesday, she held up a receipt for about $73 for 13 gallons of premium unleaded.

“They’re outrageous. Absolutely outrageous,” she said of gas prices. “I hate to pay more than I have to, for anything.”

Hannah Sender of Sausalito, filling up at an Arco in Mill Valley, said simply: “It’s annoying.”

Mikayia Williams of Marin City met her sister at the Chevron in Mill Valley to get $10 for gas. She was headed to Novato for a nannying gig with her 3-year-old son, Samir.

“The prices are so high and it’s hard because I’m a single mom,” she said. “I’ll be feeling like I can’t go to work because I don’t have enough gas.”

She said said she already pays around $250 on the lease for her 2007 Civic. The $10 her sister loaned her bought about a gallon-and-a-half for the drive to Novato.

“It’s crazy that gas prices are this high,” said her sister, Stephanie Williams. “It was going down, but now it’s on its way back up.”

Tom Klosa, the head of energy analysis at the Oil Price Information Service, said the Bay Area is ground zero when it comes to supply and demand, which has been impacted by recent refinery closures.

In 2020, Marathon closed its refinery in the Bay Area, and over the last year Phillips 66 stopped processing crude oil at Arroyo Grande in San Luis Obispo and Rodeo in Contra Costa County, Klosa said.

“The West Coast is what many consider an oil island in that it is far from the main oil production centers of Texas, Oklahoma and the Gulf Coast and those mega refineries down there as well,” said AAA spokesperson Andrew Gross.

“And west of the Rockies it’s more challenging to build pipelines, so you tend to move product by rail and truck more than say east of the Rockies. So you also have higher distribution cost that factor in as well,” he said.

While California had record gas prices in the fall of 2022 when the state average was $6.42 a gallon, the California Energy Commission said the price of crude oil, which is the biggest driver of gas prices, is higher than at any other point this year.

Another component of high fuel prices is the state’s high gas tax.

California has the highest gas tax in the country at 68 cents per gallon, compared to 39 cents for the national average, according to the American Energy Alliance.

The state also has a cap-and-trade program and low-carbon fuel standard that adds roughly another 46 cents a gallon, according to the group.

Last spring, the state promised Californians some protection at the pump when the California Gas Price Gouging and Transparency Law was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The governor said it would protect Californians from gas price gouging by creating an independent watchdog to root out potential gouging and authorizing the California Energy Commission to penalize the oil industry for wrongdoings.

In November, Newsom accused “Big Oil” of raking in “huge profits” last summer while gas prices spiked and said that “we’re continuing to hold them accountable with the new tools from our gas price gouging law.” But it remains to be seen how the new Division of Petroleum Market Oversight will affect gas prices.

California Energy Commission spokeswoman Lindsay Buckley said the division is investigating market activity and refinery maintenance schedules and that the commission this year will consider a profit cap to moderate price spikes. She attributed recent gas price spikes to refinery maintenance and spot market activity.

San Francisco resident Josephine Henry commutes to Mill Valley five days a week to work as a teacher. She said that it was “very expensive” just to make it to work.

“I definitely have to pick up more hours for work,” she said. “It takes much more money compared to my gas budget from before.”