{"id":353979,"date":"2026-06-10T01:34:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T01:34:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/353979\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T01:34:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T01:34:22","slug":"summer-blend-fuel-raises-california-gas-prices-as-stations-switch-to-cleaner-formula","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/353979\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer-blend fuel raises California gas prices as stations switch to cleaner formula"},"content":{"rendered":"

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) As California drivers head into the summer travel season, they\u2019re seeing the familiar seasonal jump in gas prices tied to the switch to summer-blend fuel. A change that began April 1 and typically adds to the cost at the pump.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis fuel is designed to perform better in hot weather, evaporate less quickly and help reduce smog and help improve air quality,\u201d said Kandace Redd, a spokesperson for AAA.<\/p>\n

California gas stations began selling summer-blend fuel on April 1 as part of a requirement designed to cut emissions. <\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

New U.S. strikes on Iran raise uncertainty for California gas prices amid summer travel (AP Photo\/Terry Chea)<\/p>\n

The blend is more expensive to produce than winter fuel, but average prices per gallon have eased over the past month after a ceasefire with Iran sparked optimism in the oil market.<\/p>\n

Even with that recent easing, prices in California remain the highest in the nation, according to AAA.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we look at California, we know that our state continues to lead the nation with the highest gas prices. The state wide average today, five dollars eighty six cents a gallon,\u201d Redd said.<\/p>\n

New developments in the Middle East could add fresh uncertainty. <\/p>\n

After an Apache helicopter went down while patrolling the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Central Command said the U.S. launched new strikes on Iran Tuesday. Many are watching to see how an escalation could affect gas prices.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

New U.S. strikes on Iran raise uncertainty for California gas prices amid summer travel (Photo by Scott Olson\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know there\u2019s really no telling what could possibly happen next. We know that gas prices continue to you know ride and fall as global oil markets react to tensions in the Middle East,\u201d Redd said.<\/p>\n

AAA said it is also watching crude oil prices closely because of their influence on gas prices.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

New U.S. strikes on Iran raise uncertainty for California gas prices amid summer travel (AP Photo\/Jenny Kane)<\/p>\n

Comment with Bubbles<\/p>\n

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\u201cNow we are continuing to watch crude oil prices because again gas prices tend to follow crude oil cost. And we know that at one point crude oil spiked. At time even going over one hundred dollars a barrel,\u201d Redd said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) As California drivers head into the summer travel season, they\u2019re seeing the familiar seasonal jump…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-353979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353979","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=353979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}