One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
Here's Why Gas Prices Just Went Up In LA
The nozzle of a gas pump at a gas station in Alhambra, CA (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images)
In response to three unrelated incidents at local refineries, gas prices in Southern California yesterday took their biggest single-day leap since March of 2016, going up by almost $0.05 to $3.48 a gallon.
The price leap is the result of unexpected events at a Phillips 66 refinery in Carson and a Chevron refinery in El Segundo, as well as planned maintenance at a refinery in Torrance, says Marie Montgomery, a spokesperson for the Automobile Club of Southern California. Combined, the events led to a slowdown in production, thereby jacking up the cost of existing gasoline due to the increased demand.
According to Montgomery, a fire broke out at the Phillips 66 in Carson on Friday, and there's no news yet as to the refinery's status. At the Chevron in El Segundo, a breakdown occurred that caused some unexpected flaring.
Because of these two instances, what would have been routine maintenance at the Torrance refinery wound up exacerbating the diminished supply more than it otherwise would have, says Patrick DeHaan, a senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.
"This comes at a time of year when other refineries generally are performing maintenance," he told KPCC/LAist, "so unexpected issues can have more impact."
From here, DeHaan predicts that we could face a continued increase in prices, as much as five to ten cents over the next week.
"As long as production is impacted as a result of the outage, we could be facing a higher price," he says.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
