Slight Decrease Extends Streak of Dropping Average Riverside County Gas Prices

RIVERSIDE (CNS) – The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Riverside County dropped two-tenths of a cent Wednesday to $4.82, the sixth consecutive decrease following a run of 14 increases in 15 days totaling 10.1 cents.

The average price has dropped 3.3 cents over the past six days, including 1.1 cents Tuesday, according to figures from the AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. It is 2.5 cents less than one week ago, 4 cents more than one month ago and $1.429 lower than one year ago.

The average price has dropped 1.553 since rising to a record $6.373 on Oct. 5.

An eight-day streak of decreases to the national average price totaling 3.7 cents ended with an increase of eight-tenths of a cent to $3.553. It is 2.3 cents less than one week ago, 1.3 cents more than one month ago and $1.366 lower than one year ago.

The national average price has dropped $1.463 since rising to a record $5.016 on June 14.

"While the national average drifted lower last week as oil prices cooled off, the drop may be temporary," said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, which provides real-time gas price information from more than 150,000 stations. "OPEC+ agreed Sunday to additional production cuts, while Saudi Arabia is going above and beyond and cutting July production.

"It’s likely that, as a result of the production cut, oil prices could rally this week. How long any rise in gas prices lasts is up in the air, but I do not yet believe motorists need to be worried. Any rise in average prices should be fairly small, and we’re still extremely unlikely to make a run at record prices anytime soon."

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