Friday Fuel-up: Slow Declines After Record High

The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in the Inland Empire dropped 1.5 cents today to $4.663, the fourth and largest consecutive decline following a six-day streak of increases totaling 52.4 cents that pushed the average price to a record high.

Gas prices locally have been found close to $4.60.

The average price in Riverside and San Bernardino counties dropped a
half-cent on Thursday, four-tenths of a cent on Wednesday and one-tenth of a
cent on Tuesday, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information
Service.

The average price is 18.4 cents more than one week ago, 52.3 cents
higher than one month ago and 86.8 cents greater than one year ago.

"The most frustrating aspect of this spike is that prices are still
hovering near their new records even after Gov. Jerry Brown's announcement on Sunday allowing gas stations to sell winter blend gasoline before Oct. 31,''
said Jeffrey Spring of the Automobile Club of Southern California.

"We hope to see significant price drops in coming days, but they will
only come after gas stations are able to sell off the expensive fuel they
bought last week.''

A spike in gas prices last Friday led to a run on gasoline, with many stations running out of fuel during the evening commute.

For the lowest gas prices reported locally, click the "commute" tab (at the top of our home page, under "More Stuff").