The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County rose 1.5 cents Thursday to $4.091, one day after a run of 21 decreases in 22 days ended with an increase of a half-cent.
The average price is 3.1 cents less than one week ago and 2.6 cents lower than one month ago but 25.9 cents more than one year ago, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service. It has risen 70 cents since the start of the year.
The run of 21 decreases in 22 days totaling 18.7 cents followed a 21-day streak of increases of 58.6 cents that pushed it to its highest amount since July 21, 2015.
The Orange County average price rose 1.5 cents to $4.046, one day after an increase of four-tenths of a cent ended a run of 21 decreases in 24 days totaling 19.6 cents. It is 2.9 cents less than a week ago and 4.8 cents lower than a month ago but 26.8 cents more than one year ago and has risen 69.7 cents since the start of the year.
The increases follow rising wholesale prices “related to unexpected breakdowns” at the Chevron refinery in El Segundo, the Phillips 66 refinery in Wilmington and the Shell refinery in Martinez, according to Marie Montgomery, a public relations specialist with the Automobile Club of Southern California.