LOS ANGELES – The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County dropped one-tenth of a cent Friday, the fourth consecutive slight decrease following back-to-back increases totaling four-tenths of a cent.
The average price of $4.672 is a half-cent less than one week ago and one-tenth of a cent lower than one month ago but $1.308 higher than one year ago, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service.
The average price decreased three-tenths of a cent Tuesday, two-tenths of a cent Wednesday and one-tenth of a cent Thursday.
The Orange County average price dropped four-tenths of a cent to $4.652, one day after decreasing one-tenth of a cent. It is six-tenths of a cent less than one week ago but 1.1 cents more than one month ago and $1.303 higher than one year ago.
While the Los Angeles County average price has dropped 4.4 cents since hitting the record high of $4.716 on Nov. 27 and the Orange County average price has decreased 3.7 cents since rising to $4.689 on Nov. 26, one-tenth of a cent less than the record set on Oct. 8, 2012, increases are expected in a few weeks with the start of the traditional “spring spike” season that typically brings increases averaging 50 cents a gallon, according to Jeffrey Spring, the Automobile Club of Southern California’s corporate communications manager.
“Not counting 2020, when the pandemic shut down gas demand, the typical Los Angeles spring gas price spike since 2017 is about 54 cents per gallon, ranging from a low of 21 cents in 2017 to a high of 86 cents in 2019,” Spring said.
“Given the lack of relief in pump prices due to continued high oil prices, it’s increasingly likely that Southern California gas prices will reach new record highs sometime in the next few months.”
–