The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County was unchanged Tuesday, remaining at $4.926, one day after an increase of one-tenth of a cent ended a five-day streak of decreases totaling 2.5 cents.
The average price is 2.4 cents less than one week ago and 85.9 cents lower than one year ago but 7.3 cents more than one month ago, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service. It has dropped $1.568 since rising to a record $6.494 on Oct. 5.
The Orange County average price dropped for the seventh consecutive day, decreasing three-tenths of a cent to $4.885. It has dropped 4.4 cents over the past seven days, including three-tenths of a cent Monday, and $1.574 since rising to a record $6.459 on Oct. 5.
The Orange County average price is 8.1 cents more than one month ago but 83.9 cents less than one year ago.
The national average price dropped for the fifth consecutive day following a 23-day streak of increases totaling 25.1 cents, decreasing 1.1 cents to $3.656. It has dropped 3 cents over the past five days and is 2 cents less than one week ago and 46.7 cents lower than one year ago but 21.6 cents more than one month ago.
The national average price has dropped $1.36 since rising to a record $5.016 on June 14.
“For the first time in several weeks, the national average price of gasoline has seen a decline, and while the fall was quite small, the bigger news may be that we may have seen a short-term peak for the price of gasoline,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, which provides real-time gas price information from more than 150,000 stations.
“While any unexpected outages could push it up again, there is a rising possibility that barring such, we may have seen our high water mark for the national average for the summer. Typically, gas prices peak between May and June, and with the oil market showing significant cracks in strength, we may have seen the peak in the national average already occur, a few weeks earlier than average.”