LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County dropped today to its lowest amount since Jan. 3, 2017, one day after a 59-day streak of decreases ended when it was unchanged.
The average price dropped four-tenths of a cent to $2.83, 2.6 cents less than a week ago, 26.4 cents lower than a month ago and $1.295 below what it was one year ago, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service.
The average price dropped 72.3 cents during the streak, the longest since a 92-day run from Oct. 2, 2014-Jan. 1, 2015. It has decreased 72.7 cents since the start of the year.
The Orange County average price dropped for the 65th time in 66 days, decreasing nine-tenths of a cent to $2.783, its lowest amount since Dec. 29, 2016. It has dropped 73.6 cents over the past 66 days, including nine-tenths of a cent on Thursday.
The Orange County average price is 4.5 cents less than one week ago, 27.7 cents lower than one month ago and $1.319 below what it was one year ago. It has dropped 76.2 cents since the start of the year.
The Orange County average price dropped for 53 consecutive days, rose one-tenth of a cent April 19, then resumed dropping the following day.
“The Energy Information Administration noted that gasoline inventories dropped by a significant 3.7 million gallons in the past week, which means there is more driving occurring than in prior weeks,” said Jeffrey Spring, the Automobile Club of Southern California's corporate communications manager.
“Prices are still declining, but if demand continues at this higher pace, we may be nearing the bottom of the price curve.”
The dropping prices are the result of a sharp decrease in demand as people reduced driving because of stay-at-home orders and higher unemployment stemming from the coronavirus outbreak, which caused gasoline inventories to increase, according to Spring.
The sharp drop in oil prices caused by a decrease in demand connected to the global economic downturn, a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia and fears of global crude storage hitting capacity are additional reasons for the lower gas prices.
The crude oil price and supply and demand are the most important factors in the gas price.
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