“Data Dump” puts the economic statistics in the news into a historical perspective.

Buzz: Local gasoline prices broke another dollar barrier this week — and a decade-old record high — with the swiftest price surge since early 2015.

Backdrop: Seeing gas station displays flashing $5-plus prices may add financial anxiety in this toasty inflationary age, but as stunning as this week’s jump has been, it’s also remarkable how long gas prices were below $4.

Data: My trusty spreadsheet reviewed stats compiled from weekly surveys by the U.S. Energy Information Administration of Los Angeles-area gas prices.

Topline

Russia, a major oil producer, and its invasion of Ukraine collided with a rapidly recovering world economy, creating a wild week for pump prices that put one federal gas price  benchmark for Southern California above the $5 mark for the first time.

According to the EIA survey, the average gallon of all gasoline blends on March 7 was $5.20 — topping the old peak of $4.74 set October 8, 2012.

The details

Here are eight trends to ponder when thinking about where prices might go next …

1. It was a wild jump. The one-week, 53-cent increase was the biggest leap since a 77-cent surge July 13, 2015. In February that year, a fire damaged the ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance, playing havoc with local fuel supplies well into summer.

2. Yes, it was a crazy week indeed. It’s giant even on a percentage basis: the 11%, seven-day surge was the sixth-biggest this century. Tops? 22% on July 13, 2015.

3. Prices were already rising. The last four week’s upswing of 16% ranked 48th since 2000. Tops? 44% on March 2, 2015.

4. Broad recoveries boost prices. In the past year, gas prices rose 42% as the economy reopened. That’s in the top 10% of all 12-month jumps. Tops? 72% on December 14, 2009 — part of the business rebound off the Great Recession’s bottom.

5. Remember $3 gas? It took just under three years for gas prices to go from a first time above $3 a gallon (Sept. 5, 2005) to more than $4 (May 26, 2008) amid that era’s housing bubble and overheated economy that would soon burst. Gas stayed above $4 for 13 weeks in 2008 before the collapse of financial markets drove fuel prices below $2 before year’s end. It took almost 14 years for local fuel prices to crack $5.

6. The $4 yo-yo: Gasoline and its second stint above $4 began March 28, 2011, as the economy recovered from the Great Recession and the spring switch over to cleaner “summer” fuel hit the market. Prices stayed there for 11 weeks. The next significant perch above $4 began Feb. 20, 2012 — a 128-week span (two-and-a-half years) during which gas fluctuated wildly with 76 weeks above the four-buck mark. The old record high was set in this period.

7. The cheap-gas era: Starting July 28, 2014, the typical late-summer drop in gas prices began an extended period below $4 — all but five weeks out of 356, or nearly seven years. Considering the economic vitality of this period, there’s no doubt a growing use of electric vehicles helped moderate fuel costs.

8. Four bucks’ last hurrah? As the pandemic’s chill of the economy eased, gas returned to the $4 level on May 31, 2021 — where it stayed until this week.

Bottom line

For all the Southern California belly-aching about gas prices, fuel’s financial hits in recent years look historically muted.

Consider that gasoline prices grew at an 8.5% annualized rate in 2005-08 between the first time this benchmark exceeded $3 and when it topped $4.

Since then, fuel inflation grew at only a 1.6% annualized rate — the nearly 14 years it took from that $4 breakthrough to the pandemic era’s surge cracking the $5 threshold.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at [email protected]

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