Gas prices top $4 a gallon across Bay Area

AAA says California now most expensive state for gasoline in U.S.

Bay Area drivers hoping to get in on the national trend of cheaper gasoline prices are going to be seriously disappointed when they head to the pump as the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded now costs more than $4 across the region.

According to AAA, average prices for unleaded hit the $4-a-gallon mark around the Bay Area on Sunday and continued to rise into the week. In San Francisco Monday, unleaded reached $4.14 per gallon, on average, while in Oakland, that same gallon of gas could be had for $4.03 per gallon. Gas in San Jose was a relative bargain at an average price of $4.01 per gallon.

Local prices reflected a statewide increase in the cost of gasoline, as the average price across California was up 28 cents Monday from the week prior, at $4.02 a gallon — giving California the highest average gas prices in the United States.

Jeanette Casellano, a AAA spokesperson, said prices on the West Coast were on the rise due in part to “a number of refinery outages that have tightened supply in the market.” Casellano said that increased demand in the region “is contributing to price increases, and prices are unlikely to subside until supply is strengthened.”

Nationally, gas prices remained stable with a week ago at $2.65 a gallon. AAA said the negative price effects expected from last month’s attack on oil fields in Saudi Arabia have largely passed through the crudeoil industry, and gas prices around most of the country were back to levels prior to the mid-September attack.