Relief is nowhere in sight for drivers feeling the pain at the pump. As gas prices could reach an all-time high.
Scott Cain said, "If you order 500 gallons of gasoline from me today, you pay roughly 5 bucks a gallon."
Cain owns West Hills Incorporated, a local fuel distribution center in the community of San Joaquin. He says the retail price of gas will pick up, pinching into consumers' pockets even more.
Cain explained, "The wholesale market has already gone past $5.00 a gallon, so it's just a matter of time before the retail market is going to catch up to that but it will within the next week or so."
The rising prices are due to a cutback in supply from refinery problems. A power failure at Exxon Mobil's refinery in Southern California. A Chevron oil pipeline shut down last month, and continuing problems from a refinery fire in Northern California in August.
The shortage is making station owners raise their gas prices. Prices in one Southern California town reached the $5.50 mark, causing one station to temporarily shut down because buying gas was too expensive.
Gas station owner Amarpreet Dhaliwal said, "This is the highest price that I have paid for gas, that I'm paying today."
A gas station owner in San Joaquin had to raise the price of gas by fifty cents Wednesday morning, to $4.79. He hopes the hike is only temporary before customers turn elsewhere and he's forced to close down.
Dhaliwal said, "It's not good at all, it affects usually the gas stations or convenience stores, the businesses inside, they make a little bit of money when people buy stuff inside and gas is to pull them in."
Representatives for Exxon Mobil say they're in the process of returning to normal production levels, and will be able to fulfill all of its supply contracts. Hopefully in enough time to help bring prices back down.
