Hank Silverberg, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – The price of gas in California set record highs twice over the weekend, raising the specter of higher gas prices for the approaching holiday season.
Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service, says that is not likely to happen here.
“We should be okay on the east coast unless we had some sort of late east coast hurricane that went up the Delaware River and knocked out a refinery here,” says Kloza.
Kloza says the shutdown of one refinery in California and their later date to convert to winter gasoline has created a shortage there, boosting prices. He says supplies will be plentiful in much of the country. Prices in California are expected to stabilize by the end of the week.
The gas prices in the D.C. area have fallen slightly in the past week.
The price of a regular gallon of gasoline in the D.C. area is now $3.74, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic’s weekly price survey. That’s down from $3.75 the week before, but up from $3.36 a year ago.
The trend has been downward over the last few weeks and Kloza is predicting prices at about $3.50 a gallon by Thanksgiving.
| Current | Week Ago | Year Ago | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D.C. Metro | $3.74 | $3.75 | $3.36 |
| D.C. Only | $3.87 | $3.92 | $3.50 |
| National | $3.81 | $3.78 | $3.39 |
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