Auto Club: Small Uptick For Prices Before Refinery Restart

Local gas prices ticked up by two to three cents over the past week, but are still nearly a dollar lower than this time last year, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California's Weekend Gas Watch. The retail state average is $2.778 a gallon for regular today, five-tenths of a penny more than last Thursday.

The average price of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area is $2.862 per gallon, which is 2.8 cents higher than last week, 1.3 cents less than last month, and 97 cents lower than last year. In San Diego, the average price is $2.82, which is 2.1 cents more than last week, 1.9 cents lower than last month, and 94 cents less than this time last year. On the Central Coast, the average price is $2.863, 1.7 cents more than last week, 2.6 cents cent lower than a month ago, and 89 cents less than last year. In the Inland Empire, the average per-gallon price is $2.821, 1.9 cents higher than last week, 1.8 cents less than last month, and 93 cents less than last year.

“The ExxonMobil Torrance refinery has just sent notices it will begin restarting operations after a 15-month closure due to a major explosion, and if the restart is incident-free, a major source of gasoline for Southern California will be restored, bringing more price stability,” said Auto Club spokesman Jeffrey Spring. “Even without that refinery, local gas prices have remained remarkably stable for the spring season, remaining between $2.83 and $2.86 on average for regular unleaded since April 6 in the Los Angeles area.”

The Weekend Gas Watch monitors the average price of gasoline. As of 9 a.m. on May 5, averages are: