If you’ve been to a gas pump lately in the Phoenix area, you may have noticed a ballooning price tag. In the last month costs, have jumped more than 50 cents a gallon.
Gas is up in the Valley, topping both the state and national averages at nearly $3.90 a gallon for regular unleaded, according to AAA.
Patrick De Haan with GasBuddy says there are many reasons for the cost spike, including the need for different gasoline blends. The Valley is supplied by California refineries.
“There’s only some areas of Phoenix or Arizona that can use certain types of gasoline," De Haan said. "And when refineries go down, instead of having one large pool of supply, they essentially have to be producing various blends. And this is just Arizona that has five different requirements based on where you are. California also has different times of the year that require these blends.”
De Haan also says one refinery is in the process of shutting down.
"We’ve now started to see the permanent shutdown of a refinery in California that produces just under 10% of California’s entire gasoline supply," De Haan said. "And that again is going to be an issue that hits Phoenix and western Arizona."
Counties like Pima, which gets its gas from a different state, are averaging closer to $3 a gallon. Prices are expected to lower as blends change to the cheaper winter option.
-
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is demanding that automated vehicle developers keep their tech from interfering with police and firefighting activity. -
Court records show the judge in the case has denied the schools’ request for a preliminary injunction, saying they failed to prove the fees would cause them irreparable harm. -
Ellie Fini says we need to be paying more attention to what that pavement is made of — and what it might be doing to our health. -
The airport will remove 1,000 feet on the southern end of runway 3R/21L, the largest of three runways at the airport, and will extend the runway to the north, increasing the total length to 10,000 feet. -
Car and truck ads can be ubiquitous if you’re watching TV or a streaming service, and new research finds more and more of those commercials are showing off vehicle performance, rather than safety features.
