Gas prices jump in Sonoma County

As the owner of a Santa Rosa-based mobile pet salon, Stephanie Powell has a sharp nose for spikes in gasoline prices.

She said she has to keep the van for Barks and Bubbles at least half-full at all times, or else the generator powers off and she must resort to plugging in at clients’ homes just to operate a blow dryer at about half of normal speed.

“If I’m doing a Husky, it’s a big inconvenience,” said Powell, filling up Tuesday at the Arco station at Fourth Street and Brookwood Avenue.

A sudden spike in gas prices in California over the past week is being felt on the North Coast, where the average cost for a gallon of regular gas on Tuesday topped $3.50, according to the website GasBuddy.com. Statewide, the average $3.80 for a gallon of gas was the highest in the nation.

The numbers reflect a whopping 36-cent jump in a single week, fueling fears that California will hit the dreaded $4 mark by the end of the week. Powell said such a development would force her to bump up the hourly rate she charges customers who use her pet grooming business.

She was resigned to that possible outcome, saying, “It’s nothing new. It’s gone up before.”

Others were less sanguine. Traci Elledge, a Santa Rosa landscaper, expressed anger at “Big Oil,” which she blames for high gas prices.

“I don’t see them taking one for the team, so that bums my load,” said Elledge, who also filled up Tuesday at the Fourth Street station.

A man who lives out of his motor home and gave his name as “John Doe Homeless” also expressed his displeasure about having to pay more at the pump.

“I don’t move around as often, and then Officer Friendly doesn’t like me being in one place,” said the bearded man.

The angst aside, gas prices in Northern California on Tuesday were tracking well below those in the southern part of the state, where some stations in the Los Angeles-area already were charging $4 or more a gallon. By contrast, a number of stations in Santa Rosa were charging $3.19.

That’s well below what drivers in the city were paying on average on the same date last year, when prices hit $4.08. The average price for a gallon of regular gas in Santa Rosa on Tuesday was actually 2 cents less than a month ago.

“If you look at the big picture, it’s not that alarming,” Cynthia Harris, a spokeswoman for AAA in Northern California, said Tuesday of recent spikes. “One week we had a significant uptick in price, but it’s leveling off today.”

Analysts blame the sudden increase in California’s gas prices on a number of factors, including the inability of the state’s refineries to meet summertime demand. The problems have been exacerbated by the forced shutdown of a Mobil Exxon oil refinery in Torrance to repair damages sustained in a Feb. 18 explosion.

California’s reliance on a unique blend of less-polluting gas limits the state’s ability to seek help from other sources, said Allison Mac, a West Coast petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com. She said even relatively minor glitches at one of the state’s refineries can have far-reaching implications.

“The margin of error is very, very small,” she said.

Harris with AAA said suppliers often operate with “just-in-time” gasoline inventories, meaning supply is delivered only as demand requires. That limits storage costs, but also can lead to significant spikes in price when supply and demand are out of balance, she said.

Mac said a bulletin put out by the U.S. Energy Information Administration last Wednesday fueled the current “panic,” leading to spiking gas prices. The bulletin stated that California was below comfortable levels in terms of how much supply was needed to meet demand.

Mac said the good news is that gasoline imported via cargo ships from Asia, Europe and other overseas sources is on its way to the state and should help mitigate supply problems.

“The worst is behind us in terms of the really steep increases and we should be plateauing soon,” she said.

You can reach Staff Writer Derek Moore at 521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @deadlinederek.