Low Sonoma County gas prices make for pleasant Labor Day road trips

Labor Day weekend travelers are in for a bargain with gas prices at the lowest level in five years, thanks largely to a global glut in crude oil.|

Labor Day weekend travelers are in for a bargain with gas prices at the lowest level in five years, thanks largely to a global glut in crude oil.

The statewide average price for a gallon of regular gas on Thursday was $3.31, more than 40 cents lower than a month ago and more than 50 cents cheaper than the same day last year, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

Santa Rosa’s average price was lower, at $3.15, a whopping 70 cents cheaper than a year ago, the report said.

More than 20 Santa Rosa area gas stations were selling regular gas for less than $3 a gallon, according to the GasBuddy.com website, which reports prices at nearly 130,000 stations in the U.S. and Canada.

Statewide prices haven’t been this low since 2010, when the price on Labor Day was $3.04, according to California Energy Commission records. On Labor Day last year, the price was $3.84 a gallon.

On the end-of-summer holiday in 2002, California gas cost a mere $1.60 a gallon.

“Motorists can expect a good deal at the pump,” said Gordon Schremp, the commission’s senior fuels specialist.

“You can thank crude oil,” he said, attributing the downward spiral in prices at the pump to an excess supply of crude oil going back to last summer.

The global oil production glut currently amounts to more than 1.5 million barrels a day, he said.

California gas prices, while far higher than the national average, should remain low in the short-term future, Schremp said, due to the anticipated restart of a major Southern California refinery, the end of the summer driving season and the switch on Nov. 1 to winter-blend gasoline.

The average price nationwide on Thursday was $2.44 a gallon, according to the AAA report. The 87-cent difference between the California and U.S. prices is twice as large as usual, Schremp said.

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