For the first time, the average gas price in Monterey County has reached $ 6 per gallon of regular gasoline.

Video Player | Is it cheaper to fly than to drive a car with such gasoline prices?

A year ago, the average gas price for the Salinas area was $ 4,168. Almost two dollars cheaper than the current peak.

Diesel prices also reached a record high, reaching $ 6,712 in the Salinas area.

Further north in the Santa Cruz Watsonville area, a gallon of conventional gas costs $ 5,979 per gallon. A week ago it was $ 5,831.

According to AARP, gas prices are rising again for a number of reasons.

• Russia’s invasion of Ukraine affects oil prices
• Severe weather is affecting gas production on the Persian Gulf coast.
• Transition to the summer mix
• Summer trip

See the interactive gas diagram below:

Rossen Reports: That’s where your gas money goes

We see that the numbers are constantly fluctuating. But many of us remain wondering because the price of a barrel of crude oil is rising and falling so fast, why is the price of pumps not doing the same? Shouldn’t our gas prices fall as fast as crude oil prices?

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, these are factors that affect the cost of 3 gallons of gas:

• 53.6% – The cost of a barrel of crude oil.
• 14.4% – The cost of a refinery to convert this oil to gasoline for your tank.
• 15.6% – Distribution and marketing.
• 16.4% – state and federal taxes.

So if most of the cost is accounted for by oil companies, why doesn’t our pump price go down if the price of a barrel doesn’t go down?

Tom Klose is the global head of energy analysis at OPIS. He says it’s happening all the time – not just now.

“There’s a rocket and a pen,” said Klose. – Wholesale markets, whether crude or gasoline, are similar to a mortgage with an adjustable rate that is regulated several times a day. The retail price you pay is like a fixed price that comes out of the margin in three days. There’s definitely a rocket on the way up, and it’s pinnate on the way down. Ultimately, prices do fall when wholesale costs fall. There is just a lag when prices fall, which we feel in our wallets. ”