GAS PRICES HIGHER IN SCV, STUDY SHOWS.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

That hunch around town that gas prices in the Santa Clarita Valley tend to be higher than those in other cities was confirmed this week in a survey by the Automobile Club of Southern California.

Price tracking during December showed that nationwide, the average price of regular unleaded gasoline was 97.9 cents per gallon, the lowest price since 1979, according to data compiled by the Oil Price Information Service, a Lakewood, N.J.-based firm that did the study for AAA.

Across California, meanwhile, the average price this month is $1.12 per gallon. That figure is higher in Southern California, at $1.19 per gallon, according to the Auto Club's monthly Fuel Gauge Report.

The report showed that the average price per gallon in Santa Clarita was $1.29, compared with $1.26 in Santa Monica, $1.21 in Woodland Hills, $1.19 in Glendale and Lancaster, $1.18 in Burbank and Los Angeles, and $1.16 in Van Nuys.

There are plenty of theories about why motorists have to spend a few cents more per gallon in Canyon Country, Valencia, Newhall, Saugus and Castaic than in other parts of Los Angeles County. Those who follow the industry tend to agree that there's no single factor, but rather several that influence local prices.

In California, prices tend to be higher than in the rest of the country due to higher state gasoline taxes and the higher cost of refining the cleaner-burning fuel required by state regulations, said Jeff Spring, a spokesman for the Automobile Club of Southern California.

Another likely reason is geography; the valley is ringed by mountains and long, remote stretches of freeway with no off-ramps and/or gas stations. Travelers low on fuel tend to gas up either right before or right after they pass through those sections, like the Newhall Pass to and from the San Fernando Valley or the Tejon Pass on the route to and from Gorman and Kern County.

``Castaic is the last community in the Santa Clarita Valley before you go into the Grapevine, and the first when you come out of the Grapevine,'' Spring said.

Michael Granskog, manager of a Shell station on The Old Road next to the Golden State Freeway, had another idea.

Granskog cited the cost of transporting gasoline from refineries to gas stations in the Santa Clarita Valley. Tanker trucks that make their deliveries to the Shell station get their loads in Van Nuys and refill his underground storage tanks every other day on the average, he said.

Industry experts also have attributed current prices to an oversupply of crude oil and refined products, along with milder winter temperatures that cut the demand for heating oil on the East Coast. The demand is expected to hit seasonal lows in February and March, the survey stated.

``It's not that the (gas) stations around here are trying to rob people,'' Granskog said. ``We can't even purchase fuel for what some other stations in the (San Fernando) Valley are selling it for.

``We try to maintain as low a price as we can. When our purchase prices go up 4 or 5 cents (per gallon), then we have to pass that on to the consumer, because otherwise we would lose a drastic amount of money.''

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PHOTO (Color) Motorists on Lyons Avenue in Valencia pass a gas station reflecting Santa Clarita Valley fuel prices, among the highest in the nation.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News