Decline in North Bay gas prices slows, may be as good as it gets

North Bay fuel prices are stabilizing following weeks of decline, and motorists should anticipate prices that are as good as they’re going to get for the foreseeable future, experts say.

If all goes as expected, regional prices will be just shy of $5 for a gallon of regular unleaded fuel with the potential to go up or down a few cents at a time.

“There’s always small fluctuations on a daily basis, even a weekly basis,” Raymond Sfeir, a professor of economics at Chapman University in Orange, said.

With Labor Day weekend around the corner, he added, demand may push prices up by “a few pennies.”

“It always did before and I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t now,” Sfeir said.

According to Gas Buddy, which tracks nationwide gas prices, Santa Rosa gas stations charged as little as $5.05 per gallon as of Friday afternoon.

The city’s average price, according to AAA, was $5.45 per gallon and Sonoma County’s average was $5.45 per gallon.

Gas Buddy reported overall prices continue to fall across the country, but a few areas are still seeing prices go in the opposite direction.

“The pace of declines is certainly slowing down as oil prices have bounced up slightly, but the West Coast and Northeastern U.S. are areas that still may see gas prices decline, while the South and Midwest see the drop fade and potentially slight increases,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.

Also adding to officials’ concerns about rising oil and gas prices is the upcoming hurricane season.

“These storms can affect prices by disrupting oil production in the Gulf of Mexico and impacting large coastal refineries,” AAA spokesperson Andrew Gross said.

The quickly fluctuating prices are already starting to occur in the North Bay.

Locally, the gas station at the Santa Rosa Safeway on Medocino Avenue has some of the lowest-priced gas in the city. On Aug. 7, it charged $5.23 per gallon, but the price then dropped to $5.13 early last week.

By mid-week, the price had increased by a penny and, by Friday, it was back up to $5.23 per gallon.

“We were doing so well, too,” Santa Rosa resident Mike Wells, 42, said while filling up his car Friday. “I knew prices would rebound eventually, but it’s still sad when it happens. Now we’re going up again.”

The initial spike in fuel prices was blamed on the war between Russia and Ukraine, which impacted worldwide oil supplies. The recent dip had mostly been attributed to concerns about a potential recession.

Sfeir said talk of a recession has calmed down in recent weeks and any economic dip would be mild and hardly enough to affect oil and gas prices.

“I doubt it will go down below $5 more than it has already,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @colin_atagi.