Why Is Colorado Gas Almost $.75 More Than The National Average?
Colorado gas prices have jumped back up to around $4 or higher, overnight in some places. We're getting closer to $1 above the U.S. average. What's the reason?
Why Is Gas So High Again In Colorado?
Do you remember when we had decent gas prices like in the pic above? For the most part, gas prices in 2022 were out of control. The domino effect of high fuel costs seemed to make everything more expensive in 2022, it got out of control pretty quickly. Towards the end of 2022, we finally got some relief at the pumps, as I wrote about here finding gas under $2 just a couple of months ago. We've doubled in fuel prices since then... In fact, we're nearly $.75 higher than the national average around the country, what's the reason? Here's what we know.
What Made Gas Prices Jump In Colorado In 2023?
We've talked about this prior, but back in late December, Suncor Energy released an update regarding its Commerce City, Colorado, refinery. Due to the extreme cold that we had in Colorado in December, they experienced some severe equipment damage. In a statement from Suncor, they said:
Consistent with our operational excellence and safe operating practice, on December 24th it was determined that the entire facility would be shut down and put into safe mode to allow for the inspection of all units and repair of the damaged equipment. The inspection and repair of the damaged equipment is ongoing. Based on our current assessment we anticipate a progressive restart of the facility with a return to full operations expected to be completed by late Q1 2023.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis did authorize emergency action after the refinery shut down to help them get back up and rolling in the next month, worst case early April. With it being the end of February, and prices already hovering above $4 a gallon, even at the "cheap gas" stations, you can't help but wonder how much worse it's going to get before it hopefully starts to get better. Fingers crossed that Suncor gets back up and rolling soon to bring some relief to Colorado's current fuel prices.