But this summer, we’re seeing something freaky. Prices are going down, even with unrest in many oil-producing nations and rising tensions throughout the Middle East. The Christian Science Monitor has the details:

The average US gas price is now $3.52 per gallon, according to a Thursday report released by automotive group AAA, making current prices the lowest since March of this year. This July, US consumers saw a bigger drop in gas prices than in any July over the last six years. The price at the pump fell every day but one over the course of the month, according to AAA. Gas prices generally rise in the summer months, as Americans hit the road and drive up demand for gas. The federal government also mandates that refineries produce a more costly, lower-emission blend of gas in the summer – and those increased costs are passed onto motorists. …

Though forecasters expected that expanded domestic oil production would translate into good prices for consumers, they couldn’t have predicted prices quite this low.

July gas prices drop by amount they usually increase

Gas prices have averaged going up 16 cents in July in the U.S. This July, they went down 16 cents.

The fracking revolution is real. The 21st century was supposed to be when green-energy sources took over from fossil fuels. But instead, fossil fuels are having a renaissance, almost entirely based in the U.S.

It’s why the U.S. is now the world’s leading producer of both oil and natural gas. It’s why a nation that used to consider energy independence a major foreign-policy goal could soon be on the brink of becoming a major exporter of oil and natural gas. And it’s why we see freaky things like plunging gasoline prices in the summer in a world of rising unrest and discord.

California could join in this Texas- and North Dakota-led revolution. Occidental Petroleum believes the state has more recoverable oil than Texas and North Dakota combined.

But so long as the green religionists control so much of state government, the Golden State is likely to stay on the sidelines — and only enjoy the indirect benefits of fracking: lower gas prices. Not the direct benefits of well-paying jobs and a revenue gusher.

Great. Just great.

Typically, a gallon of regular gasoline costs between 30 and 35 cents more in California than it does in other parts of the country. However, throughout the summer and fall, that difference per gallon has reached up to 50 cents. So why exactly has the price of gas up more in California?

To start, California uses a different formula for its fuel. Environmental regulations require that the gas here must burn cleaner than in other states. In fact, California has some of the strictest pollution standards in the nation. The cleaner-burning gas is more expensive to produce, so California sees an increase in prices of about 10 to 15 cents per gallon.

On top of the more expensive fuel come California’s gasoline taxes — the highest in the country. (New York was ahead last year, but California caught back up.) Drivers in the state pay around 72 cents per gallon of local, state and federal gasoline taxes. Other states have less than half of that burden.

Growing gap

Those factors — taxes and environmental regulations — have always affected gas prices, though. So why is the gap growing?

From SFGate:

This summer, several developments helped widen the gap between gas prices in California and the rest of the country.

The state’s excise tax on gasoline increased 3.5 cents per gallon on July 1, as part of an annual adjustment required by state law.

Refineries elsewhere in the country were churning out copious amounts of gasoline, more than drivers needed. And in some regions, refineries were able to take advantage of the surge in U.S. oil production triggered by hydraulic fracturing.

Although oil is priced on the global market, the U.S. surge has happened so quickly that the country lacks the pipelines needed to move all that oil to the coasts. So refiners in some places, such as the Midwest or the Rocky Mountains, have been able to buy “stranded” oil at a discount.

For example, Rocky Mountain refineries paid $96.63 per barrel of oil in August, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. During the same month, California refineries paid $108.05. With no oil pipelines connecting California to other states, refineries here often pay more for petroleum than do their counterparts elsewhere. The difference rises and falls over time.

Finally, several California refineries experienced technical problems this year that trimmed their production, said Gordon Schremp, senior analyst with the California Energy Commission. But the state’s current gasoline inventories are normal for this time of year, he said.

The good news is that gas prices will probably continue to slump for the remainder of the year. The bad news is that they’ll slump back down to what is considered inexpensive only in California.