Coronavirus Impacting Riverside County Gas Price

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — On Friday, the average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Riverside County dropped to its lowest amount since March 23, 2019, and the coronavirus is influencing the slide because fewer people are traveling, according to an Automobile Club of Southern California spokesman.

The average price, which dropped six-tenths of a cent to $3.457 on Friday, has dropped five of the past eight days, decreasing 2.3 cents, including three-tenths of a cent on Thursday, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service.

The average price is 1.8 cents less than one week ago and 2.7 cents lower than one month ago but 19.4 cents more than one year ago. It has decreased 5.1 cents since the start of the year.

"Crude oil prices are at their lowest levels in more than a year in response to demand drops due to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak," said Jeffrey Spring, the Automobile Club of Southern California's corporate communications manager.

"We expect that will continue to have a greater influence on local gas prices than the [Carson] refinery fire unless we learn that the fire will have a long-term impact on Southern California fuel supply."

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