Gasoline prices in California are on the rise again after subsiding for a couple of weeks, but a leading consultant is backing away from an earlier prediction that the average price in California will hit $4 this spring. The statewide average did hit an average $3.65 a gallon Wednesday, according to AAA. The Sacramento and Amador areas paid $3.65 as well, also a record for the region.

The most expensive gas, among the 25 California markets surveyed daily by AAA, was found in San Francisco and San Luis Obispo: $3.78 a gallon on average. Consultant David Hackett, of Stillwater Associates in Irvine, said gas prices continue to be hostage to the cost of crude oil. The price of crude oil had dipped to around $100 a barrel, leading to a pause in gas prices, but is now going back up again. He noted that California's gas consumption continues to fall, which also takes the edge of prices. Gas sales fell nine-tenths of a percent in 2007, and 1.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007.