Gasoline Prices Likely to go Back to $4 in Nor Cal

The refinery fire has potential to send retail gasoline prices in California up as much as 50 cents, and increases the likelihood California drivers will be paying more than $4 a gallon in the next week or so, Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst with Oil Price Information Service. It won't last forever -- gasoline exports and diminished demand in September are likely to bring prices down.

Wholesale gasoline prices in California have jumped more than 30 cents in some areas of the state within hours of a late Monday fire in a Richmond refinery, and it's only a matter of time till consumers pay more at the pump.

Wholesale prices in the San Francisco Bay Area have increased by 31 cents and by about 25 cents in Southern California in the last day, from about $2.93 on average, said Kloza on Tuesday.