SLO County’s gas prices are the highest in the United States — again

San Luis Obispo County once again had the highest average gas prices in the nation on Friday — and prices could continue to go up in light of a Southern California oil refinery fire earlier this week.

According to fuel prices tracker GasBuddy.com, a tank of gas in San Luis Obispo County cost an average of $3.60 per gallon Friday. That’s more than the $3.59 average in Santa Barbara; $3.55 in San Francisco and $3.55 in San Francisco. SLO County also topped the list on Thursday.

Comparatively, the United States average is $2.45 per gallon.

This isn’t the first time San Luis Obispo County has headed this illustrious list.

In July 2019, San Luis Obispo County gas prices topped $3.91 per gallon on average, beating cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. The county has also held the most-expensive-in-California title several times going back to at least 2011.

A 2019 Economic Vitality Corporation study found that San Luis Obispo County’s gas prices are routinely among the most expensive in part because of distance to major wholesale gas supply hubs. That, coupled with those large California sales and excise taxes, contribute to create a perfect storm for San Luis Obispo County wallets.

This week also saw a spike in gas prices across California, with several stations in the Los Angeles area and other counties reporting gas prices at $5 or more per gallon, according to KTLA5.

Prices could continue to go up for California drivers after the fire at Marathon Petroleum in Carson on Tuesday night. An analyst for GasBuddy told the Los Angeles Times that prices could increase as much as 10 to 15 cents per gallon in light of the fire.

Here in San Luis Obispo County, however, no prices over $5 per gallon were reported Friday.

According to GasBuddy, the cheapest gas in San Luis Obispo County on Friday — $3.17 per gallon — could be found at Fastrip Fuel in Paso Robles. The most expensive was $4.59 per gallon at Chevron in Cambria.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect Friday gas prices.

This story was originally published February 28, 2020 at 5:00 AM.

Kaytlyn Leslie

The Tribune

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Kaytlyn Leslie writes about business and development for The San Luis Obispo Tribune. Hailing from Nipomo, she also covers city governments and happenings in San Luis Obispo. She joined The Tribune in 2013 after graduating from Cal Poly with her journalism degree.