As a nonprofit group warned of skyrocketing gas prices in California ahead of this weekend, motorists on Friday lined up at a Costco in Commerce to take advantage of gasoline that cost less than $2 a gallon.
By 7:45 a.m., lines were long and several cars deep at the Costco gas station located at 6333 Telegraph Rd., video from Sky5 showed.
The price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline at the station was just $1.95 a gallon, according to the aerial video. In Los Angeles County, the average for a gallon of 87 was about $2.44 on Friday, the latest AAA figures showed.
The gas rush came a day after Consumer Watchdog issued a report warning that drivers could see gas prices increase about 37 cents a gallon by the weekend as the state’s biggest oil refineries raised wholesale prices. The increase came amid the transition from winter to summer blend gas.
Oil refineries delivered the gasoline blend to branded stations on the same day the report came out. Because of the switch, the consumer group urged motorists to fill up before the steep price hike.
“Drivers in Southern California should fill up now because gasoline prices are going up quickly and not coming back down for a while,” Consumer Watchdog president Jamie Court said in the report. “Oil refiners made billions extra last year because of our pain at the pump and after a short respite the pain is going to continue.”
Still, the nonprofit said drivers could fill their tanks up for less at Costco and unbranded independent stations, at least for the next few days.
As of Thursday, California motorists were paying about 68 cents more per gallon than the nationwide average, Consumer Watchdog reported.