As the cost of gasoline has surged across the country, one California town is seeing particularly high prices.
In the town of Gorda, located on the Big Sur coast, the price of regular unleaded gas has hit $7.59 per gallon, according to news station ABC 30.
The cost of premium gasoline is $8.50 per gallon, and the station said that Gorda has some of the highest gas prices in the country. The town only has one gas station, and the closest gas pumps are 40 miles north and 12 miles south.
Gas prices in Gorda are well above the current average price in California—$4.49 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).
While Gorda's rising gas prices are well above the national average, the cost of gasoline is spiking across the nation.
On Monday, AAA said that the national average gas price was $3.32 per gallon, which is a 13 cent increase over last month's price, $1.16 higher than a year ago, and 67 cents higher than in 2019.
"Compared to the price of gas a year ago, it now costs consumers about $17 more to fill up their vehicles," said Andrew Gross, a spokesperson for AAA said.
"That's the cost of a large pizza with toppings. And unfortunately, it doesn't look like drivers will be finding relief at the pump any time soon," he added.
AAA said that the spike in gas prices is being driven by the cost of crude oil, which is now around $80 a barrel. That's up from the cost in August, when it hovered around $60 a barrel.
In a statement on Monday, Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, said that the national average gas price had climbed "to yet another fresh seven-year high, as the price of oil continues to drag gas prices along for the wild ride, leaving motorists on empty."
"Until several bottlenecks ease, including supply chains and low global inventories of oil, natural gas and coal, we'll be stuck feeling the pinch of rising oil and gasoline prices. The bad news is that for now, all I see is the upward trend at the pump continuing into the weeks ahead with no sign of relief just yet," De Haan stated.
According to GasBuddy's analysis, as of Monday, the national average was $3.30 per gallon—up by 2.9 cents compared to a week ago. GasBuddy data comes from a compilation of 11 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country.
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