Average gas prices in San Diego surpass $6 a gallon

The average price for a gallon of regular-grade gasoline in San Diego cracked the $6 mark on Tuesday as the war in Iran entered its ninth week as oil tankers in the Persian Gulf stay bottled up, thus continuing to upend global fuel markets.

“We’re not going to see a turnaround in gasoline prices until the Strait of Hormuz opens up again,” said David Hackett, president of Stillwater Associates, a transportation energy consulting company in Irvine, “and your guess is as good as mine on that.”

About 20% of the world’s oil exports passed through the strait on a daily basis before the war broke out on Feb. 28. Since then, traffic has slowed to a trickle as Iran has threatened - and sometimes fired on - ships. The U.S. has responded by blockading Iranian vessels.

The surge in gas prices appeared to be slowing but off-and-on ceasefires and rising tensions between the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Trump administration in the past five days have caused crude oil futures contracts to jump back up, resulting in ripple effects around the world.

According to AAA, the average price per gallon in the San Diego area stood at $6.012 on Tuesday. That’s the first time since Oct. 7, 2023, that the average price for a gallon of gasoline in San Diego has been above $6.

“It’s kind of like jousting,” Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said of the standoff in the Middle East. “Who’s going to fall off the horse first?”

With negotiations at a standstill, gas prices across the U.S. increased 1.6% on Tuesday, rising to the highest point since the conflict began.

“While San Diego and California are obviously at the highest (price) levels in the U.S., this is happening everywhere,” said Denton Cinquegrana, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, which provides data and forecasting on global energy.

The national average on Tuesday swelled to $4.176.

Statewide, California’s average price stood at $5.965 - tops in the country and $1.79 higher than the U.S. average.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, in his most recent remarks about gas prices, told reporters last week, “The price spikes in this state are directly attributable to the actions of the President of the United States and (Trump needs) to be held to account, not only to these actions and the consequences of it, but he needs to end this war and he needs to address the growing crisis at the pump that he has exacerbated.”

The war and its effects on fuel prices come at a vulnerable time for California.

The Valero refinery in the Northern California town of Benicia is scheduled to close in a matter of days. Last year, Phillips 66 shut down its twin refineries in the Los Angeles area.

With the Valero and Phillips 66 facilities combining to account for about 18% of California's total refining capacity to process gasoline, diesel, aviation and other transportation fuels, energy analysts worry the Golden State could be further exposed to price fluctuations and disruptions.

California is heavily dependent on foreign sources of oil. As of 2021, the California Energy Commission reported that 56.2% of the crude processed by California refiners was imported - and that number has grown in the past five years.

Cinquegrana of OPIS said current concerns revolve more around the price of fuel than on domestic supplies - at least for now.

“I think inventories are at the very least comfortable enough to handle this,” he said. “But as people come to the U.S. hat in hand, looking for gasoline, diesel or especially jet fuel, it has the potential to tighten things up here.”

A trio of academics see immediate danger on the state’s horizon.

“California could see statewide prices above $8 a gallon for premium and diesel above $10 per gallon (if it can be obtained at all),” James Rector, professor at UC Berkley, Michael Mische, professor at the University of Southern California, and Joseph Silvi, a graduate assistant at UC Berkeley, wrote in a recent opinion piece in The San Diego Union-Tribune.

On Tuesday, AAA’s statewide average for premium gasoline was $6.386, with diesel coming in at $7.480 a gallon.

As for potential short-term relief, Newsom has resisted calls to suspend state taxes and fees - such as the Low Carbon Fuel Standard of 20 cents per gallon and the state excise fee of 61 cents per gallon. The governor’s office believes cutting transportation funding would only lead to more potholes, longer commutes and dirtier air.

In the longer term, Phillips 66 and Kinder Morgan last week announced plans to move forward with the 1,300-mile Western Gateway Pipeline project that would run from St. Louis to California and move gasoline and other refined products into Southern California. But even if the project clears all regulatory hurdles, it is not expected to go into service until at least 2029.

Jet fuel prices are high, too, as stockpiles in California have dropped 25% compared to peak levels last year.

Norse Atlantic Airways, based out of Norway, canceled flights to LAX earlier this month, citing high fuel costs. “We are truly sorry for the inconvenience, and apologize for passengers who have their travel plans changed,” the airline said.

Domestic carriers such as Delta, Southwest, United and Jet Blue have hiked their bag-check fees.

DeHaan of GasBuddy said things can change quickly in the Persian Gulf, but for now his message for San Diego-area drivers is pretty sobering.

“For folks that are really impacted, my advice is try to reduce consumption, combine your trips, use mass transit if you can,” he said. “I know those aren’t terrific options, but I don’t think it’s going to get drastically better for some time. I’m kind of losing hope on that.”

As for local record prices, the all-time high for regular gasoline in the San Diego area was set on Oct. 5, 2022, when AAA’s average hit $6.435 a gallon.

The run-up in prices in 2022 and 2023 was due to a combination of factors, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that led to sanctions being placed on Vladimir Putin’s government, reductions in crude oil output by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and a coalition of other nations that make up what's called OPEC+ and maintenance and refinery outages in California.

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This story was originally published April 28, 2026 at 2:40 PM.