The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Riverside County dropped one-tenth of a cent Saturday to $3.498, one day after decreasing two-tenths of a cent.
The average price is 1.2 cents less than one week ago and 21.1 cents lower one month ago, but 24.9 cents more than one year ago, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service. It dropped 59 times in the past 62 days, falling 53.1 cents to its lowest amount since Aug. 29.
California had the nation’s highest average gas price in 2019, the second time in 20 years it had that distinction.
“California was one of the few states that went against the national trend of ending 2019 with a lower annual average gas price than in 2018,” said Jeffrey Spring, the Automobile Club of Southern California’s corporate communications manager.
“The U.S. average annual national gas price dropped from $2.72 a gallon in 2018 to $2.61 a gallon in 2019, but California’s average rose from $3.56 in 2018 to $3.72 in 2019. About 6 cents of that rise can be attributed to increased taxes, with the rest happening due to refinery problems in October that drove average prices well above $4 a gallon.”
The only other year California’s average annual price surpassed that of Hawaii was 2015 when an explosion at the Exxon Mobil refinery in Torrance caused major supply issues, Spring said.