The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Riverside County dropped Saturday for the third consecutive day, its first three-day streak of decreases since Sept. 10-12.
The average price dropped a half-cent to $4.62, one day after recording its largest decrease since April 28, 2020, dropping nine-tenths of a cent Friday, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service.
The average price is 2.1 cents less than one week ago, but 11.3 cents more than one month ago and $1.51 higher than one year ago.
The declining pump prices are the result of a significant drop in the price of crude oil and “because this is traditionally the time of year with the lowest demand,” said 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 21.72% from its 52-week high of $84.65 — reached on Oct. 26, 2021 — to $66.26 on Friday.
Crude oil costs account for slightly more than half of the pump price, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.