Gas prices spike overnight by more than 10 cents in parts of Arizona, including Valley

PHOENIX — Many Arizona motorists received an unpleasant holiday season surprise at the pump Friday, as gas prices jumped overnight by more than a dime in some regions.

The Phoenix area’s average price for a gallon of regular gas was $3.438 on Friday, according to AAA, a spike of 11.2 cents in just one day.

Pima County in southern Arizona, where fuel prices tend to run lower than the state average, got dinged with a single-day increase of 10.4 cents to $3.28.

The statewide rise wasn’t quite as steep as in the Phoenix and Tucson areas, climbing 7.5 cents to $3.388.

Why did Arizona gas prices spike overnight?

Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at price reporting agency Oil Price Information Service, said the bump was caused by refinery issues in Southern California. He thinks it will be temporary in the short term but a sign of things to come down the road.

“It’s kind of a dress rehearsal for what you can see in the spring when California probably goes a little bit crazy and you get the collateral damage of higher gas prices there [in Arizona],” he told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Friday.

Despite the sudden surge, the statewide average was 10.2 cents lower Friday than it was a month ago. The Valley average was down 5.1 cents over that timespan.

The national average Friday was $3.12, essentially unchanged from Thursday.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Jim Cross contributed to this report.

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