The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Riverside County rose nine-tenths of a cent Sunday to $5.834, its highest amount since Oct. 8, 2023.
The average price has increased 60 of the last 61 days, rising $1.693, including 1 cent Saturday, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service. It is 9.6 cents more than one week ago, $1.283 more than one month ago and $1.20 more than one year ago. It is 53.9 cents less than the record $6.373 set on Oct. 5, 2022.
Prices were rising slightly in line with seasonal norms before the joint U.S./Israel attack on Iran on Feb. 28 sent oil prices higher and drastically accelerated increases at the gas pump.
“Southern California gas prices are following a similar pattern to the spike we saw after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022,” Kandace Redd, the Automobile Club of Southern California’s senior public affairs specialist, said in a statement released Thursday.
“Today marks 27 days since the Iran conflict began, and the Los Angeles average gas price has risen by $1.26 a gallon since then. During the same number of days after the Russia-Ukraine war began, the Los Angeles average gas price rose by $1.19 a gallon to an average price of over $6 a gallon.”
The national average price ticked up four-tenths of a cent to $3.98, after dropping slightly for three consecutive days. It is 3.8 cents more than one week ago, 99.8 cents more than one month ago and 82.1 cents more than one year ago. It is $1.036 less than the record $5.016 set on June 14, 2022.