L.A. DRIVERS PAYING MORE FOR GASOLINE.

Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer

Heightened demand combined with production problems at two refineries drove up pump prices an average 11 cents a gallon last week in the Los Angeles area, industry experts said Friday.

The forecast is for more price increases in the coming months, with the cost for a gallon of gas rising 30 cents more by Memorial Day.

The Automobile Club of Southern California reported that in the Los Angeles region the average price for a gallon of regular climbed to $1.47 Friday, 20 cents above its price last month.

This hits drivers like Brittany Lamm, a Pepperdine communications major, extra hard. The Fresno native, unaccustomed to Los Angeles' soaring gas prices, has resorted to car-pooling, cutting out extraneous trips and even stopping visiting her boyfriend.

``He lives all the way out in Valencia, and it takes half a tank just to go see him ...,'' she said as she forked out $14.83 Friday to fill up her Mitsubishi Montero at a Calabasas Mobil station. ``Prices were really low, but they've kept going up. I just hope they'll decrease soon, but you never know what they're going to do to you.''

According to Bob van der Valk, a wholesaler for Cosby Oil in Santa Fe Springs, Lamm probably is out of luck. His research shows that Valero Energy Corp.'s Wilmington refinery experienced a production hiccup this week that limited its production of California Air Resource Board-approved gas - creating a tightened spot market. That, he predicted, combined with usual market forces, will push gas up dramatically in the next week.

``Between now and the end of next week, it'll go up another dime unless the price of crude goes down, Valero comes back up and the market gets flooded with gasoline,'' van der Valk said Friday. ``Well, here's the news: That's not going to happen. Gas is going to continue to go up.''

Valero representatives could not be reached for comment, but van der Valk's research was confirmed by several sources, who also said Chevron Texaco's Richmond refinery was beset by numerous problems over the week.

``You guys have your share of refinery problems in the last few months,'' said Mark Mahoney, the West Coast editor for Oil Price Information Service. ``Anytime there's any sort of disruption there, since there's so few refiners who can make your kind of gas, you feel it right away.''

He estimated production levels at the Richmond facility to be at 60 percent of capacity, which he termed ``limping along.'' Representatives from the San Francisco-based oil giant declined to confirm the widely circulated reports.

``That sounds like a day-to-day operation question, and we don't comment on those issues,'' said Dean O'Hair, public affairs manager for the refinery.

The tight supply has severely pinched dealers, who buy at different wholesale levels but still must compete with other gas stations. Will Woods, executive director of the Automotive Trade Organizations of California, a group representing dealers statewide, said his constituents were hurting from the sudden rise.

``The dealer is the first one who suffers,'' he said. ``Customers can go to other stations to find better deals, so volume goes down. Many dealers have contracts where their rent depends on how much gas they sell. So when they can't sell as much, they get doubly hit because their rent's going up and they have less income to pay for it.''

An Automobile Club representative said that increased demand, spurred by consumers buoyed by talk of a revived economy, was a driving force in prices' skyward climb.

``It's not fun to watch, that's for sure,'' said AAA spokesman Jeff Spring. ``Basically, people are anticipating an increased economy, so there's been more purchasing. And with demand going up, that pushes prices up with the idea that there will be even more demand.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, chart

Photo:

(1 -- color) Calabasas visitor Jaeme Gorder, 25, from Omaha, Neb., pumps $5 of gas Friday at the Mobil station on Las Virgenes Road.

(2) Meris Ficks of Calabasas fills her tank Friday morning at her neighborhood Union 76 station.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer

Chart:

GAS PRICES ON THE RISE

SOURCE: Auto Club

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