SAN JOSE — Bay Area gasoline prices zoomed higher to the vicinity of $5.50 a gallon, fueled by ongoing economic uncertainties linked to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, a new survey showed Monday.

Every region of the Bay Area reported average prices for gasoline on Monday that were dramatically higher than last Friday, a forbidding result that was revealed in the new AAA gas price survey.

The average price of gasoline was $5.45 a gallon in the Bay Area, using an average of the prices for all the metro centers in the Bay Area that AAA reported on Monday.

That was up a head-spinning 43.2% from the average price in the region one year ago,

The current average price for the nine-county region also rose 27 cents in three days — or a jaw-dropping average of 9 cents a day from Friday through Monday morning.

All of the prices posted on Friday for each metro region in the Bay Area represented all-time high records for unleaded regular gasoline, this news organization’s review of the AAA survey determined.

The United States reached a grim milestone for gasoline prices over the weekend. Average gas prices reached $4.01 a gallon on Sunday, the first time that benchmark topped $4.

Nationwide gasoline prices are now 46.9% higher than they were 12 months ago.

Similarly, gas prices in California climbed to fresh summits. The average price for gas in California is up 42.6% from a year ago and has now reached $5.34 a gallon.

“As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues, crude prices soar, leading to higher pump prices,” AAA stated in a post Monday on its website.

Here’s the average per-gallon price, on a county-by-county basis in the Bay Area as of midday Monday, reported by AAA:

— Santa Clara County, $5.38

— Contra Costa County, $5.39

— Solano County, $5.39

— Alameda County, $5.40.

— San Mateo County, $5.47

— Sonoma County, $5.48

— San Francisco, $5.50

— Napa County, $5.51

— Marin County, $5.51

“Consumers can expect the current trend at the pump to continue as long as crude prices climb,” AAA stated in the web post.

Source: www.mercurynews.com