Pinch at the pump worst in 25 years

The state’s motorists paid an average of nearly $2.81 a gallon for gasoline this year, eclipsing a 25-year inflation-adjusted record, the California Energy Commission said Tuesday. And experts predicted more price pressures at the pump in 2007.

The state’s refineries face a heavier maintenance schedule in 2007 than they did in 2006, analysts said. California also is among the first states set to switch from winter-blend gasoline to a pollution-fighting warm-weather formula. Both factors will lead to more downtime at refineries and a straining of output in coming weeks.

Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for Oil Price Information Service of Wall, N.J., used a heavy-weather analogy to describe what may be brewing at California pumps.

“If I were a hurricane forecaster, I would say there is a good possibility for lots of convection,” he said. “There are going to be higher wind speeds and updrafts there than for the rest of the country.”

LA Times