Gas prices in Sacramento: $3.38 for regular

[warrior1]

http://www.sacbee.com/103/story/165300.html

asoline prices set records Wednesday in Sacramento and practically everywhere else in California.

The price hit $3.38 in Sacramento for an average gallon of self-serve regular, the highest ever. All told, 20 out of 25 metropolitan markets surveyed daily by AAA set records. The statewide average was a record $3.43.

Besides high crude oil costs, analysts blamed the high prices on lingering refinery production problems, which are forcing oil executives to jump into the market to buy enough fuel to feed their retail outlets.

"Refiners have certainly been buyers in the wholesale market, which means production is not keeping up with demand," said Denton Cinquegrana, West Coast markets editor for the Oil Price Information Service.

Industry consultant David Hackett said refinery production on the West Coast is down about 8 percent from a year ago. That's as if "one whole refinery has been down," said Hackett, head of Stillwater Associates in Irvine.

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