The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County dropped four-tenths of a cent by midweek to $4.403, ending a streak of seven consecutive increases that had pushed it to its highest amount since Oct. 23, 2012.
The average price is 1.2 cents more than one week ago, 2.7 cents more than one month ago, and $1.17 higher than one year ago, according to figures from the Automobile Club of Southern California (AAA) and Oil Price Information Service.
The Orange County average price increased two-tenths of a cent to $4.369. It is 1.3 cents more than one week ago, 2.4 cents higher than one month ago and $1.16 greater than one year ago.
There may be “a short-term spike in gas prices locally because oil production closures around New Orleans have increased the benchmark price of oil,’’ Jeffrey Spring, corporate communications manager for the AAA.
Spring said he expects the local impact of higher oil prices caused by Hurricane Ida will be short-lived as long as the damage to those refineries is minimal.
Oil from the Gulf of Mexico region is not used in the production of gasoline sold in Southern California.
The price of a barrel of West Texas intermediate crude closed at $68.50 Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 71 cents. It closed at $65.46 on Aug. 18.
