As the summer season arrives in the state, Santa Clarita gas prices are expected to rise as businesses switch over to their summer-blend gasoline.

The months between April and June are traditionally known as the “transition months” where gasoline manufacturers, and consequently businesses, switch from their winter-blend gasoline to their summer-blend.

The difference between summer- and winter-blend gasoline has to do with the Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) of the fuel. RVP is a measure of how easily the fuel evaporates at a given temperature. The more volatile a gasoline, the easier it evaporates, and the higher RVP it has, according to officials with the American Automobile Association (AAA).

Winter-blend gasoline tends to have a higher RVP because the fuel needs to be able to evaporate at low temperatures for the engine to operate properly, especially when the engine is cold. If the RVP is too low on a cold day, the vehicle will be hard to start, and will run rough once started, according to AAA officials.

Summer-blend gasoline on the other hand tends to have a lower RVP to prevent excessive evaporation when outside temperatures rise. Reducing the RVP of summer gas also helps decrease emissions that can contribute to unhealthy ozone and smog levels, according to officials.

Conventional summer-blend gasoline contains 1.7 percent more energy than winter-blend gas, which is one reason why gas mileage is slightly better in the summer, according to officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

However, the summer-blend is also more expensive to produce, and that cost is reflected in the price consumers pay at the pump.

This shift in gasoline blends comes at a time where gasoline prices are already rising in California. Because of record travel numbers across the U.S., especially on the West Coast, AAA officials are predicting statewide average gas prices to rise to between $3.60 and $3.80 by Memorial Day, May 28.

“Demand for gasoline this March was very strong, closer to the demand AAA typically sees during the summer,” AAA Northern California Spokesperson Michael Blasky said in a statement. “If demand stays strong, the price of fuel is likely to keep rising.”

Summer driving this year could also be the most expensive it’s been in recent years due to oil exports from the United States having quadrupled since 2015 and foreign barrel prices reaching their highest price since 2014.

Prices at the pump are likely to be 14 percent higher than last summer — costing an average of $2.74 per gallon nationwide, the U.S. government estimated last week.

“The price of oil has climbed because of efforts by OPEC and Russia. Brent crude, the global benchmark, surged 3.5 percent on Tuesday to $71.04 a barrel, the highest since late 2014,” said a CNN Money report. “That’s already above the EIA forecast of $63 for this summer, suggesting gas prices could go even higher. Brent crude averaged just $51 last summer.”

Although gas is well below the $4-per-gallon prices of 2008, it has risen because of recovery in the oil markets. The average gallon of gasoline in the U.S. fetched $2.66 last week, according to AAA. That’s up from the national average of $2.39 for last year, just as summer driving season was beginning, said the CNN report.

However, drivers in California, Oregon, Nevada, Washington, Hawaii and Alaska already pay more than $3 per gallon, according to AAA. California’s average gas price has jumped to $3.52, compared with $2.99 a year ago.

The price hike in large part is due to the supply of foreign oil being down, mostly because of OPEC’s efforts to boost prices by curbing production, reports CNN.

“Saudi Arabia-led OPEC and Russia reached an agreement in late 2016 to pump less oil,” said the CNN report. “OPEC and its allies agreed last November to extend the cuts through the end of 2018.”

Additionally, the United States is exporting oil at a record clip, sending more than four times as much oil overseas than it was in 2015, according to CNN.

All these factors have contributed to what analysts are calling an expensive summer travel year.

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