The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County dropped 1.7 cents Friday, the largest of three consecutive decreases totaling 2.7 cents.

The average price of $4.102 is 1.6 cents less than one week ago and 15.5 cents lower than one month ago but 33.9 cents more than one year ago, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service. It has risen 71.1 cents since the start of the year.

The Orange County average price dropped 1.4 cents, the largest of four consecutive decreases totaling 2.8 cents. The average price of $4.06 is 1.7 cents less than a week ago and 16.3 cents lower than one month ago but 34.8 cents more than a year ago. It has risen 71.1 cents since the start of the year.

“Based on some substantial drops in Los Angeles wholesale prices over the past few days, we would expect retail gas prices to resume dropping as they had been in the last couple weeks of October,” said Jeffrey Spring, the Automobile Club of Southern California’s corporate communications manager.

“Oil industry analysts are predicting some significant price drops in December as well based on lower production costs for local refineries.”

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