Motorists, station owners feel squeezed as gas prices top the $4 mark for the first time in the Valley.
Four-dollar gas is here.
At least two Chevron gas stations in Fresno sold unleaded gasoline at $4.05 Friday, among the first in the central San Joaquin Valley to top the psychologically important benchmark of $4.
The stations -- at Ashlan and Blythe avenues and at Willow and Alluvial avenues -- raised the price Thursday evening.
The average for the region is still about 11 cents less. But more stations will follow, said Scott Cain, vice president of fuel wholesaler West Hills Oil in San Joaquin and an economics instructor with the University of Phoenix in Fresno.
"It is another barrier that we've blasted through," he said. "But I think everybody's so used to blasting through barriers, I don't think it will have the effect that going through $3 for the first time did."
The average price for a gallon of gas passed $3 per gallon nationally in 2005 after the Hurricane Katrina disaster.
Two people filling their tanks at the Ashlan and Blythe Chevron in west-central Fresno didn't notice the price was over $4 until it was pointed out to them.
"Isn't that terrible?" asked Gay Witrado of Fresno, whose credit card cut off her purchase at $75.
Shafiq Fazil of Fresno said he usually shops at the Chevron and stopped for a fill-up and car wash before heading to Los Angeles for a baseball game.
"I thought it was three something," he said.
He decided to get the car wash, but gas up elsewhere.
The Chevron, which is paired with a Johnny Quik market, is selling less gas, said manager Frank Moreno.
But not many customers have complained -- yet.
"I'll hear it, believe me," he said. "Hopefully [the price] will go down."
The average unleaded price of all gas stations in Fresno on Friday was $3.89, and a cent higher in the Visalia-Tulare-Porterville area, according to AAA.
Chevron prices are often higher because the gas contains the additive Techron and because it is a branded gasoline sold by a large company, meaning drivers are paying for marketing and other extras, said National Association of Convenience Stores spokesman Jeff Lenard.
Gas was selling for $3.83 and $3.89 just two-tenths of a mile away from the west-central Chevron.
The owner of the station, Rajdeep Singh, said he is just as frustrated as his customers.
"We're barely surviving," he said. "If I sell anything less than this, I'd be putting money out of my pocket."
Singh said the cost of the gas he buys from Chevron is so expensive, he's making the same profit he did when gas was 99 cents: about 4 or 5 cents a gallon.
Crude oil was responsible for much of the recent run-up.
The cost flirted with $120 a barrel Friday, after several world events, including warning shots fired at two boats in the Persian Gulf, a pipeline attack by a Nigerian militant group and a looming strike at a Scottish refinery.
Retailers, many of whom are not making money on gasoline right now, probably will resist passing the $4 mark as long as they can, Lenard said. He said shoppers are likely to switch stations if it's a penny cheaper, and "$4.01 is going to feel a whole lot more expensive than $3.99," he said.
Many stations in the Valley are holding prices at that $3.99 mark.
But Cain, the wholesaler and economics professor, said, "pretty much everybody is going to be forced to bite the bullet."
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Lowest gas prices in Valley
