It adds about 10 cents of additional cost per gallon of gas, said Borenstein. Yet, in the fall of 2022, California gas prices shot up to a record high of nearly $6.50 per gallon after multiple refineries suffered outages. The shrinking number of oil refineries in California is another reason there’s a growing gap between California and the rest of the country’s gas prices. Those 11 refineries produce 90% of California’s gas and diesel fuel, according to California’s energy department. But Borenstein has another theory for why the price of gas is so much higher in California.

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