Auto Club Gas Prices Slip a Little

Third Straight Week of Declines

(LOS ANGELES, April 11, 2003) — Falling prices at the wholesale level helped push gasoline prices at the pump lower for the third consecutive week, according to the Weekend Gas Watch, compiled by the Automobile Club of Southern California. However, consumer price relief has lagged behind steeper wholesale price declines over recent weeks.

Currently, the average price of self-serve regular unleaded gasoline in the Los Angeles–Long Beach area is $2.136 per gallon, which is 1.9 cents lower than last week?s price, 11 cents higher than last month and 51 cents higher than last year. In San Diego the price is $2.178, which is 1.9 cents below last week's level, 11 cents above last month and 50 cents higher than last year. Motorists in the central coast have an average price of $2.172, which is 1.7 cents lower than last week's price, 10 cents higher than last month and 48 cents higher than last year.

"Over the past week California's wholesale gasoline price has declined by five cents per gallon while retail prices of gasoline in the L.A.–Long Beach went down less than two cents, " said Carol Thorp, spokesperson for the Automobile Club of Southern California. "There is always a lag between movement at the wholesale and retail level, so we can expect to see prices at the pump decline between four and six cents per gallon over the next couple of weeks."

The Weekend Gas Watch monitors the average price of gasoline at popular destinations for motoring trips.

Average prices as of 12:01 a.m., April 11:

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