Automobile Club of Southern California : Gas Prices Back Off Slightly

After a month of increases, local gas prices dropped slightly last week after a sharp downturn in wholesale gasoline costs, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California's Weekend Gas Watch. The retail state average is $2.808 a gallon for regular today, half a penny less than last Thursday.
The average price of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area is $2.856 per gallon, which is 1.8 cents lower than last week, 14 cents higher than last month, and seven cents lower than last year. In San Diego, the average price is $2.854, which is nine-tenths of one cent lower than last week, 14 cents higher than last month, and four cents less than this time last year. On the Central Coast, the average price is $2.897, 1.4 cents less than last week, 16 cents higher than a month ago, and five cents higher than last year. In the Inland Empire, the average per-gallon price is $2.81, seven-tenths of one cent less than last week, 14 cents more than this time last month, and eight cents less than last year.

'Los Angeles wholesale gasoline prices have dropped by about 30 cents in the last two weeks due to ample supplies, which usually would push prices downward more sharply than the slight decreases we've seen in the past week,' said Auto Club spokesman Jeffrey Spring. 'However, oil industry analysts expect local refineries are beginning this week to take production units offline for maintenance, so excess supply could be used up quickly and wholesale prices could change direction again.'

The Weekend Gas Watch monitors the average price of gasoline. As of 9 a.m. on Jan. 19, averages are:

Area	Regular	1-week change	Record Price
Los Angeles - Long Beach	$2.856	-1.8 cents	$4.705 (10/9/12)
Orange County	$2.846	-2.2 cents	$4.690 (10/8/12)
San Diego	$2.854	-0.9 cent	$4.725 (10/8/12)
Santa Barbara - Santa Maria - Lompoc	$2.897	-1.4 cents	$4.709 (6/21/08)
Riverside - San Bernardino	$2.810	-0.7 cent	$4.688 (10/8/12)
Ventura	$2.845	-0.1 cent	$4.689 (10/7/12)
Bakersfield	$2.784	-0.5 cent	$4.648 (10/9/12)