California Scoots Past $4.50 Gasoline

Graph via LosAngelesGasPrices.com

While the current national average for unleaded gas is $4.066 per gallon, California leads the way with a state average of $4.564, with Los Angeles' average at $4.579. "Southern California gas prices are nearly 40 percent higher than they were at this time last year and 93 percent higher than at this time in 2005," Jeffrey Spring of AAA told the Daily News. 30 days ago, gas in Los Angeles averaged at $3.88.

Earlier this week the Energy Department released a report saying that oil inventories "fell more than expected last week." That sent a spike in the price of oil. But apparently, the power that be with oil prices had not read the full report. "Prices eased back to their pre-report levels as traders read further into the EIA's release and found that supplies of fuel such as gasoline and heating oil rose and demand fell."