If gas prices keep going up in Southern California the massive winter storm that hit much of country could get some of the blame.
Gas Buddy head of petroleum analysis Patrick De Haan tells KNX 1070 News 20 percent of the country's refining capacity is shut down right now which is likely to contribute to a five to 15 cent-a-gallon increase here in the next couple of weeks.
"Typically, Californians are used to refineries being down for several weeks but in this case I think the sub-freezing temperatures are poised to end by this weekend so hopefully refineries will get up and running in the next week and that should minimize long term potential damage at the pump in terms of higher prices," he says.
He says oil prices will probably continue to go up as the economy recovers from the pandemic so prices won't drop dramatically once the refineries are back up and running.
The average for a gallon of regular in LA County right now is $3.56.
It's $3.54 in Orange County.
