California just set a new gas-price record

Five cents over the previous record set in October 2012

IMPERIAL, Calif. (KYMA, KECY/CNN) - The American Automobile Association (AAA) confirms gas prices hit an average of $4.676 Sunday, beating October 2012's record average price of $4.671 for regular gasoline.

Economists saw the price inching up this week. On Friday, it was about a penny away from the record, eventually tying for it come Saturday.

This new record seems to contrast the nation's average gas price, which dropped slightly to $3.413 Sunday.

According to the AAA, heavy rainstorms in Northern California have limited production. These supply-chain shortages then trickled down to Southern California, mirroring what recently happened to Louisiana with Hurricane Ida.

"It's a bit of a supply crunch we have right now, there's nothing major, until the refineries in Northern California can get back up to full production capacity," Corporate Communications Manager of the Automobile Club of Southern California Jeffrey Spring said.

Though Californians are used to paying more for gas, prices are pushing $5 in some areas. Costs per gallon have surged to more than $4.80 in the Bay Area.

"Drivers are paying $1.50 more per gallon than a year ago," AAA spokesman Doug Shupe shared. "It means the person who has the typical midsize sedan with a 14 gallon size fuel tank, they're paying $21 more to fill up that tank today than last year."

Shupe says higher crude oil prices and the pent up demand from the pandemic are to blame for the spike in costs.

"Typically we see prices at the pump fall off after Labor Day because people have completed their summer vacations. Kids are back in school," Shupe added. "But this year people are still traveling. There's still that demand for fuel to get to where people want to go."

And despite the value of U.S. oil surging more than 65% this year, production remains around 14% below pre-pandemic times. Wall Street banks warn that $100 or even $120 oil is on its way.

"What's happening up in the Bay Area indicates that maybe we're at the tippy top of this price increases, barring any other issues," Spring commented. "So, we're hoping by the end of the year that things will start heading downward."

California reached its record price in 2012 when refinery glitches caused prices to spike for a few weeks, before eventually coming back down.