State, SoCal Gas Prices Inch up for Third Consecutive Week

Increased California gasoline inventories last week tempered moderately higher oil prices to barely move gas prices up in the state and Southern California for the third consecutive week, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California's Weekend Gas Watch. The retail statewide average is $2.96 a gallon for regular unleaded, a penny more than a week ago. California's boutique reformulated gasoline (RFG) inventories increased 2.6 percent to 4.914 million bbl last week, according to the California Energy Commission (CEC).

The average price of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area is $2.99 per gallon, which is two cents more than last week, six cents more than last month, and 32 cents higher than last year. In San Diego, the average price is $2.97, which is a penny above last week, seven cents more than last month, and 27 cents more than this time last year. On the Central Coast, the average price is $3.03, which is three cents higher than last week, six cents higher than last month, and 28 cents higher than last year. In the Inland Empire, the average per-gallon price is $2.92, which is up two cents from last week, five cents more than last month, and 29 cents more than at this time last year.

“Compared to the prior week, the pace of gas price increases during the past week slowed to between one and three cents per gallon, depending on the region,” said Auto Club spokesman Jeffrey Spring.  “The Los Angeles/Long Beach average price for regular is the third lowest price on this day we’ve seen during the past ten years.  Still, we encourage drivers to shop around for the lowest price near them by using the AAA Mobile app available free to members and the public.”

The Weekend Gas Watch monitors the average price of gasoline. As of 9 a.m. on Aug. 10, averages are: