The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County dropped two-tenths of a cent Tuesday to $4.591, a day after back-to-back increases of two-tenths of a cent lifted it to its highest amount since Oct. 17, 2012.
The average price is 1.1 cents more than one week ago, 15.7 cents higher than one month ago and $1.443 greater than one year ago, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service.
The Orange County average price rose four-tenths of a cent to $4.549, its highest amount since Oct. 18, 2012, one day after dropping one-tenth of a cent. It is nine-tenths of a cent more than one week ago, 14.3 cents higher than one month ago and $1.428 greater than one year ago.
Increases to the pump price have been reduced because stations were allowed to start selling the winter blend of gasoline, which is generally cheaper to produce, on Nov. 1, and the oil price has stabilized, according to Jeffrey Spring, the Automobile Club of Southern California’s corporate communications manager.
The price of a barrel of West Texas intermediate crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange has dropped 3.21% from its 52-week high of $84.65 hit Oct. 26, 2021, to $81.93 Monday.
Crude oil costs account for slightly more than half of the pump price, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.