A taxicab driver fuels up in San Francisco yesterday as record petrol prices test $4 per gallon.
Photo by Stephen Dorian Miner

By Laura Dudnick

March 12, 2008

The average price for a gallon of gasoline in California has reached a record high of $3.58, and Bay Area drivers are paying even more than that to fill up their tanks, according to a report released Tuesday by the American Automobile Association of Northern California.

In the Bay Area the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.72, an increase of 42 cents from the last AAA report on Feb. 12, the report stated.

The most expensive average gas price in Northern California where AAA monitors fuel costs is Tahoe City. Regular unleaded gasoline in Tahoe City sells for $3.75 per gallon, according to the report.

The lowest price among Northern California communities tracked by AAA is in Chico, where drivers pay an average of $3.51 per gallon, the report stated.

The nationwide average price of self-serve regular gasoline is $3.23, which is an increase of 27 cents since AAA’s February report and ties the nation’s previous record high.

The least expensive gasoline in the U.S. is in Cheyenne, Wyo., where a gallon of regular unleaded gas costs an average of $2.97, according to the report.

However, a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline in Wailuku, Hawaii, on the island of Maui, costs $3.93, the highest average price in the nation, the report stated.

One reason for the increase is the cost of crude oil from which gas is made has reached a record high price of $108 per barrel, according to Sean Comey, an AAA of Northern California spokesman.

The sinking value of the dollar may also be a factor in the high gas prices, the report stated.

No state in the country has an average gas price below $3, according to the report.