What you’re paying at the pump: Here’s how Valley gas prices are changing
For the first time in more than a month, the average price of regular unleaded gasoline has dropped to under $4 per gallon in Fresno, falling by three cents a gallon from a week ago to $3.97 on Monday.
Gasoline prices surged above the $4 mark in early October and peaked at $4.12 per gallon — the highest so far this year — in mid-October after settling to less than $3.60 per gallon in August and early September, according to AAA Gas Prices. Average prices in neighboring Valley counties were also just under $4 per gallon on Monday.
Collectively, the region’s gas prices were lower than the statewide average of $4.04 per gallon. The highest average price in California was $4.23 per gallon in the San Luis Obispo / Atascadero / Paso Robles market on the central coast. The cheapest market for gasoline was Modesto, in the northern San Joaquin Valley, at $3.85 per gallon.
California’s prices remain the most expensive in the nation. The U.S. average gas price was $2.62 per gallon, up a penny from a week ago. Among the factors that contribute to higher prices in the state are more fuel taxes imposed by the state, as well as different air quality requirements than many other states.
“Pump prices in the West Coast region have mostly decreased on the week after the region underwent planned and unplanned refinery maintenance that caused prices to spike over the past month,” the automobile association reported. “Reduced supply in the region, amid robust demand, put pressure on pump prices, but the pressure continues to decrease as a result of imports and increased production from regional refineries.”
GasBuddy.com, a website and mobile app in which gasoline customers can report pump prices at stations in real time, reported that the lowest price on Monday for regular unleaded gasoline in the Fresno market was $3.59 at the Costco station on North Blackstone Avenue, a Valero station at Ingram and Spruce avenues in northwest Fresno, and a Super 7 convenience store at Maple and Belmont avenues in southeast Fresno.
The highest price, $4.19 per gallon, was reported at a pair of stations along Jensen Avenue in south Fresno — a Valero station at Jensen and Elm avenues, just west of Highway 41, and a Shell station at Jensen and East avenues, just east of Highway 99. GasBuddy users also reported that a 76 station at Van Ness Avenue and Ventura Street in downtown Fresno also had regular unleaded at $4.19 per gallon.
The cheapest state for gasoline in the U.S. on Monday was Louisiana, at $2.22 per gallon.
