53-Day Streak Of Declining Fuel Price Ends In Riverside County

MURRIETA, CA — A 53-day streak of decreases totaling 78.9 cents that dropped the average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Riverside County to its lowest amount since Dec. 22, 2016, ended Monday with an increase of six-tenths of a cent to $2.683.

The streak was the longest since a 55-day streak from Oct. 25-Dec. 18, 2018, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service.

The dropping prices were the result of a sharp decrease in demand as people reduced driving because of stay-at-home orders and higher unemployment stemming from the coronavirus outbreak, which caused gasoline inventories to increase, according to Jeffrey Spring, the Automobile Club of Southern California's corporate communications manager.

The sharp drop in oil prices caused by a decrease in demand connected to the global economic downturn, a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia and fears of global crude storage hitting capacity was another reason for the lower gas prices. The crude oil price and supply and demand are the most important factors in the gas price.

Despite the end of the streak, the average price is 3.7 cents less than one week ago, 36.9 cents lower than one month ago and $1.37 below what it was one year ago. The price has decreased 82.5 cents since the start of the year.

The 2016 average included stations in San Bernardino County.