Average price of gas in SoCal jumps to nearly $4 a gallon amid sudden drop in supply

Drivers pulling up to gas stations across Southern California may notice a difference when filling up at the pump.

The price of gas has jumped to nearly $4 for a gallon of regular unleaded, the biggest increase in Los Angeles County since 2015.

The price for regular unleaded hit $3.97 per gallon this week, which is up 5% from last week and 11% higher than last month, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California.

Industry experts say problems at four California refineries, along with unplanned work at the PBF refinery in Torrance and at Marathon's Wilmington refinery, have all contributed to a sudden drop in supply.

Chevron's El Segundo location also recently suffered an outage.

However, things are still not quite at the level of the record-setting prices from 2012, when drivers had to shell out $4.71 for a gallon of unleaded gas.

"Almost overnight, gas prices in some instances are up 10 to 20 cents a gallon and that may continue," said Patrick Dehaan with Gas Buddy.

He adds that drivers may see those prices go up another 10 to 25 cents a gallon over the next week.

Analysts say it may be a month or so before we see gas prices go back down to where they were before the increase.