The price of gasoline in San Diego County took a slight upturn on Monday with the average price at the pump reaching $5.393. The nation has seen a streak of daily falling national average prices approaching 100 days, but experts say those daily declines are nearly over.
According to the American Automobile Association, the average cost is 98.6 cents less than the record $6.373 set on June 15. The national average price dropped for the 97th consecutive day since rising to a record, falling one-tenth of a cent to $3.677. It has dropped $1.339 since climbing to a record $5.016 on June 14.
“All streaks have to end at some point, and the national average for a gallon of gas has fallen $1.34 since its peak in mid-June,” said Andrew Gross, AAA spokesperson. “But there are big factors tugging on global oil prices—war, COVID, economic recession, and hurricane season. All this uncertainty could push oil prices higher, likely resulting in slightly higher pump prices.”
Meanwhile, most of the country is now using less expensive winter blend gasoline, so modest pump price reductions have occurred. California has yet to make the switch, but that happens on Nov. 1.
While California’s gas prices are nowhere near the $6 peak in June, it still sits well above the national average at $5.447. The state has opted to send out a $9.5 billion tax refund in one-time payments of up $1,050 to eligible taxpayers to cope with the high prices.
California’s high gas prices will likely persist for another three to four weeks, Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy told POLITICO.
“Once that gasoline does show up, and once refineries do fix their outages, the gasoline will start flowing,” said DeHaan. “Then, when supply goes up, prices will come back down.”
