Gas Prices Hit Record High, Rise Above $6 Again In San Diego County

SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CA — The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline hit a record high Thursday in San Diego County.

The average price went up six-tenths of a cent to $6.023. The previous San Diego County record high of $6.018 was set March 29.

The average price has risen 16 of the past 17 days, increasing 24.4 cents, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service. The average price was $6.017 Wednesday, $5.857 one week ago, $5.767 one month ago, and $4.156 one year ago.

Marie Montgomery Nordhues, a spokesperson for the Automobile Club of Southern California, told Patch that there are a number of factors that are causing gas prices to reach a new record high in the San Diego area.

"The overall reason is that the war in Ukraine has caused a large disruption to the oil and gasoline market," Montgomery Nordhues said.

"Diesel gasoline prices are extremely high right now in the U.S. but even higher in Europe, where about 50 percent of the passenger vehicle car fleet runs on diesel. That has diverted a lot of refinery resources toward making diesel gasoline, so imports of regular gasoline that California would normally be getting at this high price are not arriving in large enough numbers to push prices downward," she said. "And there have been some unexpected issues and maintenance closures at local refineries in the past couple of weeks that have not helped the supply issue, according to Oil Price Information Service."

The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in California was $6.061 Thursday, while the average national price was $4.589, according to AAA.