{"id":303341,"date":"2026-05-06T23:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T23:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/303341\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T23:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T23:24:11","slug":"officials-say-shoring-up-californias-oil-supply-will-come-at-a-price-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/303341\/","title":{"rendered":"Officials say shoring up California\u2019s oil supply will come \u2018at a price\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

While officials are not concerned about an immediate oil shortfall, California consumers\u00a0<\/a>are likely to see another price hike in the coming weeks as the war in Iran strains the global market, lawmakers said on Tuesday at a hearing about the uncertain future of the state\u2019s fuel supply.<\/p>\n

The hearing came after the final oil tanker<\/a> to pass through the Strait of Hormuz arrived at the Port of Long Beach this week \u2014 the last shipment from the Middle East expected to reach California for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen this tanker is empty, it\u2019s unclear where the next replacement ship will be coming from,\u201d said Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, D-Irvine, and Utilities and Energy Committee chair at Tuesday\u2019s hearing.<\/p>\n

Californians have been feeling the pain at the pump since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran spiked crude oil prices around the world. Today, drivers pay about $6.13 per gallon compared to the national average of $4.48, according to AAA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Keep up with LAist.<\/p>\n

If you’re enjoying this article, you’ll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less. <\/p>\n

While officials do not foresee California running out of oil, consumers should brace for additional price increases.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

High gas prices are listed at a Chevron gas station in Los Angeles on March 9, 2026, as gasoline prices surge amid the ongoing war with Iran.<\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Frederic J. Brown<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on what we\u2019re hearing from the industry and what we have heard, the pricing will move molecules towards California, but it will come at a price,\u201d Siva Gunda, vice chair of the California Energy Commission, said.<\/p>\n

Gunda said the costs will come from a bidding war to divert oil from Asian markets to the West Coast.<\/p>\n

Ahead of Tuesday\u2019s hearing, a California Energy Commission spokesperson said in a statement that the price spike is due to \u201cthe rapid escalation of crude oil prices because of the Iran War. These elevated prices are not unique to California, and prices are continuing to rise globally.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Jamie Court, the head of Consumer Watchdog, a consumer protection group, said that California legislators, along with the state\u2019s oil refiners, should take more responsibility for high prices. In a statement<\/a>, Consumer Watchdog said oil refiners have been taking advantage of the current war to make record oil-refining profits, and Court said California Gov. Gavin Newsom \u201cchickened out\u201d of price gouging regulation.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump can be responsible for about 70 cents of this because of the crude oil increase, but the rest of the two extra dollars we\u2019re paying at the pump \u2026 are on Newsom,\u201d Court said.<\/p>\n

Severin Borenstein, professor and faculty director of The Energy Institute, UC Berkeley\u2019s Haas School of Business, said in the public hearing that the recent spike is just one part of a larger trend.<\/p>\n

While higher gasoline taxes and stronger environmental regulations in California play a role in the comparatively high prices \u2014 adding about\u00a0<\/a>$0.72 per gallon in taxes and $0.50 per gallon in environmental programs, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration \u2014 a refinery fire in Southern California in 2015 led to a \u201cmystery gasoline surcharge\u201d<\/a> driving up prices. Bornstein said this adds about $0.50 per gallon, on top of oil and refining costs.<\/p>\n

The Commission\u2019s Division of Petroleum Market Oversight said in the hearing that it\u2019s also taken steps to deal with \u201cbranded\u201d retailers like Chevron that have been overcharging California consumers at the pump.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone should be getting their gas at the generic brands,\u201d Petrie-Norris said.<\/p>\n

KQED\u2019s\u00a0Sara Hossaini<\/a>\u00a0contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While officials are not concerned about an immediate oil shortfall, California consumers\u00a0are likely to see another price hike…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,37840,147,93309,92467,65989],"class_list":["post-303341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-california-oil","tag-gas-prices","tag-iran-war","tag-oil-prices","tag-strait-of-hormuz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}