Despite drop, SLO County’s gas prices are most expensive in United States once again
San Luis Obispo County’s gas prices dropped this week, but as of Friday drivers were still stuck buying the most expensive gas in the United States.
According to GasBuddy.com, which tracks gas prices across the country, the average price of a gallon of regular gas in San Luis Obispo County on Friday was $5.92, making it the most expensive metropolitan statistical area in the United States.
The second-most expensive gas title went to Los Angeles, with an average cost of $5.90 per gallon on Friday, followed by Ventura ($5.89) and Santa Barbara ($5.87).
This comes in spite of marked drops in gas prices across the country in the past two weeks, following a drop in oil demand in China due to surging COVID-19 cases and President Joe Biden’s announcement that the United States would be releasing 180 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, according to GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan.
“So long as oil prices remain under $100 per barrel and there’s no escalations in Russia’s war on Ukraine, we may be poised to see gas prices decline again this week as the U.S. and other countries try to raise oil supply to tip prices lower,” De Haan said in a news release April 4.
In San Luis Obispo County, the average price of a gallon of gas fell roughly 6 cents since Sunday, when prices hit $5.96 per gallon, according to GasBuddy.
This was already below the previous all-time SLO County peak of $6.03 per gallon, set on March 30.
The most expensive gas in the county was the Shell Station in Cambria, which was charging $6.59 per gallon as of Friday, according to GasBuddy.
The cheapest gas was at the San Paseo Truck Stop station on Wellsona Road in Paso Robles, where a gallon of regular gas cost $5.29 as of Friday.
%20Cropped.jpg)