Local gas prices stopped their slow climb and dropped as the Torrance ExxonMobil refinery restarted operations this week, beginning to bring more stability to Southern California supply, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California's Weekend Gas Watch. The retail state average is $2.798 a gallon for regular today, one penny less than last Thursday.
The average price of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area is $2.837 per gallon, which is 2.5 cents lower than last week, six-tenths of one cent less than last month, and $1.02 lower than last year. In San Diego, the average price is $2797, which is 2.3 cents less than last week, half a cent lower than last month, and $1.03 less than this time last year. On the Central Coast, the average price is $2.858, half a penny less than last week, half a penny lower than a month ago, and 94 cents less than last year. In the Inland Empire, the average per-gallon price is $2.806, 1.5 cents lower than last week, 1.2 cents less than last month, and a dollar less than last year.
“There’s no doubt this year has experienced one of the mildest Southern California spring gas price spikes in recent memory, thanks to consistently lower oil prices and reduced worldwide demand that has contained the price for the fuel we have had to import in recent months,” said Auto Club spokesman Jeffrey Spring. “Today’s Los Angeles average price of $2.837 is 20 cents below what motorists paid on Jan. 1 of this year, and 50 cents higher than the lowest 2016 price of $2.36 reached on Feb. 25. Normally, gas prices spike a dollar or more in the Southland during the spring months.”
The Weekend Gas Watch monitors the average price of gasoline. As of 9 a.m. on May 12, averages are:
|
Area |
Regular |
One-week change |
Record Price |
|
Los Angeles – Long Beach |
$2.837 |
-2.5 cents |
$4.705 (10/9/12) |
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Orange County |
$2.810 |
-2.9 cents |
$4.690 (10/8/12) |
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San Diego |
$2.797 |
-2.3 cents |
$4.725 (10/8/12) |
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Santa Barbara – Santa Maria – Lompoc |
$2.858 |
-0.5 cent |
$4.709 (6/21/08) |
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Riverside – San Bernardino |
$2.806 |
-1.5 cents |
$4.688 (10/8/12) |
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Ventura |
$2.818 |
-1.2 cents |
$4.689 (10/7/12) |
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Bakersfield |
$2.810 |
+2.8 cents |
$4.648 (10/9/12) |