The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County rose two-tenths of a cent Thursday to $4.676 following three consecutive decreases totaling a half-cent.
The average price is three-tenths of a cent less than one week ago and 1 cent lower than one month ago but $1.368 higher than one year ago, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service. It has dropped 4 cents since hitting the record high of $4.716 on Nov. 27.
The Orange County average price rose four-tenths of a cent to $4.651 one day after increasing one-tenth of a cent. It is one-tenth of a cent more than one week ago and $1.366 higher than one year ago but unchanged from one month ago.
The Orange County average price has dropped 3.8 cents since rising to $4.689 on Nov. 26, one-tenth of a cent less than the record set on Oct. 8, 2012.
While the price of a barrel of West Texas intermediate crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange has increased for 13 of the past 16 sessions to $82.64, its highest settlement value since Nov. 9, “gas prices in Southern California haven’t been affected by rising oil prices, mostly because they never dropped as much as oil prices dropped last month,” said Jeffrey Spring, the Automobile Club of Southern California’s corporate communications manager.
Crude oil costs account for slightly more than half of the pump price, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
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