Gas War Produces Cheapest Fill-Up

FRESNO — California has the distinction of being home to the city with the cheapest gasoline in the United States.

Gas in Fresno, where some stations are charging 99 cents per gallon, is rock bottom for the nation, according to the Lundberg Survey of 8,000 stations nationwide.

Fresno’s fortunes are the result of an old-fashioned price war, experts said.

“All it takes is one competitor out there deciding to find the bottom of the market and other people following,” said Jay McKeeman, executive vice president of the California Independent Oil Marketers Assn., which represents wholesale fuel sellers.

The rest of California also is benefiting from a recent surplus of gas, which has driven down prices across the state.

Several factors caused the glut: the softening economy, June’s high prices and, possibly, experts said, an attempt by refineries to produce extra in anticipation of summer blackouts.

At the same time, some refinery shutdowns in the Midwest have sent prices there surging by roughly a quarter per gallon.

That has lifted the national average by more than 6 cents per gallon, according to the Lundberg Survey.

Lundberg tracked Fresno prices as averaging $1.14 for self-serve unleaded, which it said was the lowest in the country. But numerous drivers and news stories told of people getting gas in Fresno for closer to $1 per gallon.

The California State Automobile Assn. listed Fresno’s average price Monday as $1.25 per gallon, considerably less than the $1.79 average in San Francisco.