Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office on Thursday took the unusual step of telling Californians to skip Chevron-branded gasoline over the Memorial Day weekend, releasing a social media post that urged drivers to “skip the brand name” and buy unbranded fuel instead. The appeal came as the state’s average pump price hovered at $6.14 per gallon — $1.58 above the national average — and the major oil company mounted a counter-narrative blaming California’s climate policies for the high cost.
The governor’s office cited an internal analysis from a division of the California Energy Commission, the agency responsible for overseeing the oil and gas industry, which found that Chevron averaged between 60 and 80 cents more per gallon than unbranded alternatives selling the same product. “Pro tip: unbranded gas comes from the same refineries, storage tanks, and pipelines, and it meets the same state standards to keep your engine running clean,” Newsom’s office posted on X. “Big Oil is already making billions off Trump’s Iran War; don’t let them rip you off even more by overpaying for the brand name.”
At issue is a long-simmering debate over who bears responsibility for California’s perennially expensive fuel. The state taxes consumers about 70 cents on every gallon of gasoline, the highest gas tax in the country, according to the energy commission. Chevron, meanwhile, has posted signs at its California gas stations that attribute high prices to the state’s environmental regulations — a direct rebuttal to Newsom’s push to shift blame onto oil industry profit-taking.
The back-and-forth unfolded during one of the busiest travel periods of the year. Memorial Day weekend typically marks the start of the summer driving season, and prices at the pump are a politically sensitive issue. The Democratic governor, who leaves office next year, has spent months criticizing oil companies for what he calls profiteering off global supply shocks, including the conflict in Iran that has kept crude prices elevated.
The AAA data cited Thursday showed that California’s $6.14-per-gallon average was the highest among all states, while the national average stood at about $4.56. The state’s special fuel blend and its cap-and-trade program add upward pressure, but independent analysts have long noted that a portion of the price premium comes from higher refining margins and retail markups in the lightly competitive California market.
Newsom’s office did not directly challenge those structural factors in its social media post, instead focusing on consumers’ ability to switch to unbranded stations that, according to the energy commission’s finding, sell essentially the same gasoline for less. The Chevron signs, however, have kept the political argument alive, framing the state’s regulatory climate as the root problem.