Auto Club: Gas Prices Stop Dropping In Many Areas

Gas prices in many Southern California cities stopped dropping in the last week and posted slight increases in a couple of areas, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California's Weekend Gas Watch. Today’s retail statewide average is $3.54 a gallon for regular unleaded, which is two cents lower than last week.
 
The average price of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area is $3.61 per gallon, which is unchanged from last week, 13 cents lower than a month ago, and 28 cents higher than last year. In San Diego, the average price is $3.60, which is also unchanged from last Thursday, 13 cents less than last month, and 31 cents higher than last year. On the Central Coast, the average price is $3.66, which is four cents lower than last week, 18 cents lower than last month, and 29 cents higher than last year. In Riverside, the average per-gallon price is $3.51, which is one cent higher than last week, 13 cents lower than last month, and 30 cents higher than last year. In San Bernardino, the $3.58 average price is two cents lower than last week, 13 cents lower than last month, and 31 cents higher than a year ago today.

“Los Angeles wholesale gasoline prices increased earlier this week on news of unplanned flaring at the Marathon refinery in Carson and subsequent refinery purchases of fuel in the spot market,” said Auto Club spokesman Jeffrey Spring. “However, today wholesale prices have backed off a bit, and the Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday that West Coast gasoline inventories have grown, so it’s unclear whether gas price declines are really over for this month. Currently, the incidents between the U.S. and Iran have not affected prices in this region, even though much of the crude oil purchased by California refineries comes from the Middle East.”

The Weekend Gas Watch monitors the average price of gasoline. As of 9 a.m. on Jan. 9, averages are: