Gas prices in California have surged over the past week, driven by low gasoline inventories and a refinery fire in Northern California, just ahead of the Presidents Day weekend.
As of Friday, the average price for regular gasoline in California was $4.82 per gallon, a 26-cent increase from the previous week and 19 cents higher than at this time last year.
The spike in prices is partly due to a fire that broke out at the Martinez PBF refinery on Feb. 1, forcing it offline indefinitely and significantly disrupting the state’s gasoline supply…