San Diego County average gas price drops for 51st time in 54 Days

SAN DIEGO (CNS) - The average price of a gallon of self-serve gasoline in San Diego County dropped today for the 51st time in 54 days, decreasing seven-tenths of a cent to $2.797, its lowest amount since Dec. 31, 2016.

The average price is 3 cents less than a week ago, 32.2 cents lower than a month ago and $1.289 below what it was one year ago, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service. It has fallen 80.5 cents since the start of the year, including a half-cent on Monday.

The average price fell 44 consecutive days, rose three-tenths of a cent on April 19, dropped each of the next five days, then rose three-tenths of a cent on Saturday and one-tenth of a cent on Sunday, the first back-to-back daily increases since Feb. 27-28.

The average price has dropped 73.6 cents over the past 54 days.

The dropping prices are 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 are additional reasons for the lower gas prices.

The crude oil price and supply and demand are the most important factors in the gas price.