Los Angeles County gasoline prices are approaching the 2022 record as global oil disruptions, California’s fuel market and refinery changes push pump prices higher.
It is happening again.
The average price for regular gasoline in Los Angeles County reached $6.387 a gallon Saturday, just 10.6 cents below the county record of $6.493 set in October 2022.
It was the 39th consecutive day of increases.
The current average is also $1.665 higher than it was a year ago, according to figures from AAA and the Oil Price Information Service reported by ABC7 Los Angeles.
For drivers, the important question is no longer simply how high gasoline has become.
It is why California is experiencing another near-record price episode and what it means for people who have to drive.
The county record remains $6.493 per gallon, set October 5, 2022. AAA’s Los Angeles-Long Beach data list the same record at $6.4938.
The latest 39-day increase has added 74.5 cents to the county average, putting the price within reach of that previous high.
For a driver, the household impact is easier to see in a tank.
At the current average:
- 10 gallons: $63.87
- 15 gallons: $95.81
- 20 gallons: $127.74
A 15-gallon fill-up costs roughly $25 more than it would have at the county’s average price a year ago.
For someone who fills up regularly, that difference can accumulate quickly and it adds another transportation cost to the broader affordability pressures facing California households. We have roported how housing, gasoline and health-care costs are combining to put pressure on household budgets in California.
Why California gas prices are rising again
The immediate pressure is coming from the global oil market.
The California Energy Commission says the conflict involving Iran has disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for global oil supplies. Before the conflict began, roughly 20% of the world’s daily oil supply moved through the waterway, while California sourced about 17% of its total crude oil through the Strait.
Because crude oil is traded in a global market, disruptions can raise costs for California drivers even when they occur thousands of miles away.
The CEC says higher crude prices have been a major driver of the gasoline increases seen around the country, including California.
But global oil prices are only part of the California story.
California’s transportation-fuels market is relatively isolated.
There are no pipelines bringing gasoline into California from other major U.S. refining regions. The state normally relies on gasoline produced within California, supplemented when necessary by marine shipments from domestic or foreign sources.
That can make supply disruptions more consequential.
The California Energy Commission says marine imports can take several weeks to arrive. When a refinery goes offline unexpectedly, the state may have to compete for replacement supplies in a market that is already relatively constrained.
California also requires a special gasoline formulation designed to reduce air pollution.
The CEC identifies several factors behind California’s higher gasoline prices, including the state’s isolated fuel market, its special gasoline blend, environmental program costs and taxes.
California’s refining system has also changed.
Phillips 66 shut down its Los Angeles refinery in October 2025, and Valero shut down its Benicia refinery in April 2026. The loss of refining capacity comes as California continues to depend heavily on in-state production and marine imports to balance fuel supply. California Energy Commission: California petroleum market
That does not establish that those closures caused the current price.
The present increase is occurring amid a much broader global oil-supply disruption.
But refinery operations remain an important part of California’s price equation. The CEC says unplanned refinery outages can significantly affect prices in the state’s relatively isolated market.
What are drivers actually paying for?
The price on the sign reflects more than crude oil.
It includes the costs of crude, refining, distribution and marketing, along with industry margins, state and federal taxes and environmental program costs.
The California Energy Commission’s September 2026 price breakdown shows how those different components contribute to the California retail gasoline price.
That is why pointing to only one factor, whether crude oil, taxes or refinery costs, does not fully explain what Californians pay at the pump.
California’s Division of Petroleum Market Oversight has also examined gasoline margins and market structure. Its 2024 annual report said gross gasoline industry margins were a significant component of the difference between California and other states after accounting for taxes, fees and environmental-program costs, and called for further analysis of market concentration and pricing behavior.
For another look at one component of the price, read California’s gasoline excise tax and how its annual adjustment affects drivers.
For workers who have to drive, $6 gas becomes a recurring expense
The impact is not evenly experienced by every household.
Someone who rarely drives may notice the price without dramatically changing a monthly budget.
For a worker who drives every day, the calculation is different.
Construction workers can travel between job sites. Home health workers can visit multiple clients. Landscapers, cleaners, delivery workers and other mobile workers may need a vehicle to reach customers or workplaces.
For them, gasoline can be tied directly to earning income.
A higher pump price therefore becomes part of the cost of doing the job.
And for households already managing rent, food, insurance and other expenses, another $20 or $25 on a regular fill-up can add up.
The California Energy Commission says the state continues to meet its gasoline needs through refinery production, inventories and imports. The agency is monitoring refinery production and supply conditions as the global market remains volatile.
The issue is not that California has suddenly run out of fuel.
It is that the cost of maintaining supply can rise sharply when global crude markets are disrupted and California’s relatively isolated fuel system has to adjust.
In 2022, gasoline above $6 a gallon was headline-making news in Los Angeles.
Now, only four years later, the county is approaching that territory again.
The current price has not broken the 2022 record. But the experience is familiar.
For drivers, the next move will depend on factors they cannot control: global crude prices, shipping conditions affecting the Strait of Hormuz, refinery production, inventories, imports and changes in supply and demand.
What Californians can see is the number on the pump.
What that number represents is much more complicated.
For Los Angeles County drivers, $6.387 is not another record yet. But it is close enough to the 2022 high to raise a familiar question: why does California keep experiencing these extraordinary gasoline-price episodes, and what does that mean for the households and workers paying for them?
