The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County dropped Monday for the third consecutive day following a run of 23 increases in 25 days, decreasing six-tenths of a cent to $6.285.
The decreases stem from Gov. Gavin Newsom sending a letter to the California Air Resources Board late Thursday directing it 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.
"Spot gasoline markets collapsing today in California as a result of the CARB waiver.... down 84 cents per gallon for the LA/SoCal market and AZ gasoline produced in CA," Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, which provides real-time gas price information from more than 150,000 stations, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, just before noon Friday.
"If this holds, this means that later tonight stations will be paying FAR less and will then slowly start passing it on. Other stations won't budge for a few days until they sell through more of their expensive gasoline... mid next week, declines ramp up across CA, AZ, NV," De Haan added.
The average price rose 91.8 cents during the run of increases to its highest amount since Oct. 11, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service.
It dropped 1.7 cents Sunday and is 16.9 cents more than one week ago and 89.6 cents higher than one month ago, but 17.4 cents less than one year ago. The average price has dropped 20.9 cents since rising to a record $6.494 on Oct. 5, 2022.
The Orange County average price dropped nine-tenths of a cent to $6.228.
The Orange County average price is 14 cents more than one week ago and 88.9 cents higher than one month ago, but 19.4 cents less than one year ago. It has dropped 23.1 cents since rising to a record $6.459 on Oct. 5.
The national average price dropped for the 12th time in 14 days, decreasing one-tenth of a cent to $3.814. It has dropped 6.7 cents over the past 14 days, including eight-tenths of a cent Sunday.
The national average price is 3.5 cents less than one week ago and one- tenth of a cent lower than one month ago but 1.8 cents more than one year ago. It has dropped $1.202 since rising to a record $5.016 on June 14, 2022.
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