The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County rose Wednesday to its highest amount since May 7, 2014, increasing 7.6 cents to $4.28.
The average price has risen 73.5 cents since Thursday, including 15.1 cents on Tuesday, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service. It is 61.9 cents more than a month ago and 15.9 cents higher than one year ago.
The Orange County average price rose Wednesday to its highest amount since May 8, 2014, rising 7.2 cents to $4.248. It has risen 75.1 cents since Thursday, including 15.7 cents on Tuesday. It is 66.1 cents more than a month ago and 14.8 cents higher than one year ago.
The rising prices are the result of insufficient supply to meet demand, caused by local refineries being outbid by foreign competitors for imported oil, the ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance remaining offline because of an explosion in February and the Tesoro refinery in Carson being at least partly offline for its annual maintenance, according to Marie Montgomery of the Automobile Club of Southern California.
—City News Service