The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Riverside County rose within one-tenth of a cent of the record Sunday, increasing 1.3 cents to $6.329.
The average price has risen 13 consecutive days, increasing $1.02, including 7.4 cents Saturday and 16.3 cents Thursday, its largest daily increase since 2012, according to figures from the AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.
The 2012 figure included stations in San Bernardino County.
Sunday’s increase was the smallest during the streak. The average price dropped to $5.128 on Sept. 2, then began increasing again.
It is 66.5 cents more than one week ago, $1.201 higher than one month ago and $2.006 greater than one year ago.
Gov. Gavin Newsom sent a letter to the California Air Resources Board on Friday directing it to take whatever steps are necessary to allow refineries to begin making and distributing winter-blend gasoline, which is cheaper to produce. Stations normally cannot start selling winter blend gas until Nov. 1.
“It is hard to know when this will impact gas prices,” Marie Montgomery, a public relations specialist with the Automobile Club of Southern California, told City News Service. “It all depends how quickly logistics can be adjusted to get that supply in the pipeline and also how quickly refineries return from maintenance, but it should help to stop the steep increases.”
An 11-day streak of increases to the national average price totaling 12.6 cents ended Sunday with a decrease of four-tenths of a cent to $3.796. It is 8.2 cents more than one week ago and 60.2 cents higher than one year ago, but 1.3 cents less than one month ago.
The national average price is $1.22 less than the record $5.016 set June 14.
The streak of increases followed a 98-day streak of decreases totaling $1.342 that began the day after the record high was set.