California retail gasoline prices are dropping for a second straight week, according to price surveys Friday. A worldwide plunge in crude oil futures, touched off Thursday after Morgan Stanley cut its forecast for global growth this year, is translating into speculators fleeing oil futures.
“As the cheaper crude oil makes its way through the refining process and into gas stations, we’re continuing to see pump prices drop,” says Jeffrey Spring, a spokesman for the Automobile Club of Southern California. “Southern California gas prices haven’t been this low since February of this year.”
But to put it in perspective, prices are still well above what they were a year ago. On the national level, the average price on Aug. 19 is $3.585, which is 85.5 cents higher than one year ago.
In California, the average Friday is $3.719, which is 56 cents higher than one year ago, the American Automobile Association says.
Morgan Stanley reduced its growth estimate to 3.9 percent from 4.2 percent. And it put on the fright mask, saying that the U.S. and Europe are “dangerously close to recession.”
Gasoline for September delivery settled at $2.77 a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Thursday. Crude oil futures dripped lower to $80.96 per barrel in electronic trading early Friday.
Following are the Central Valley average prices for Friday, Aug. 19, driving from south to north, as reported by the American Automobile Association with last week’s (Aug. 12) averages in parentheses and [Aug. 5] prices in brackets:
• Bakersfield, $3.731 ($3.785) [$3.828]
• Visalia-Porterville, $3.740 ($3.770) [$3.809]
• Fresno, $3.688 ($3.714) [$3.784]
• Merced, $3.721 ($3.720) [$3.769]
• Modesto, $3.642 ($3.673) [$3.741]
• Stockton-Lodi, $3.656 ($3.689) [$3.741]
• Sacramento, $3.684 ($3.710) [$3.765]
• Yolo, $3.675 ($3.706) [$3.761]
• Yuba City, $3.589 ($3.607) [$3.719]
• Chico, $3.659 ($3.690) [$3.770]
The market average price of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area on Aug. 19 is $3.710, which is 3.4 cents less than last Friday, the AAA says. In San Diego, it is $3.715, a decrease of 3.7 cents since last Friday, according to the AAA’s figures.
San Francisco continues to boast California’s highest average price for a gallon of gas. The average on Aug. 19 is $3.830, a decrease of 1.7 cents from one week ago, the AAA says.
Like San Francisco, Yuba City retains its crown, but this one is for having California’s lowest average price. On Aug. 19 is it $3.589, down less than two cents from last week’s average of $3.607, the AAA says.
For California’s lowest reported prices on Aug. 19, you’d have to fill up at a gas station in Salinas, where ther posted price is $3.29 per gallon, according to thre website GasBuddy.com.
And there’s been a change in where the state’s highest price has been seen. On Aug. 19, a gas station in Santa Monica can claim the title, according to GasBuddy, with a price of $4.79 per gallon. There was no report on that gas station in El Portal, near Yosemite National Park, which had held the dubious title for three weeks in a row.
The nation’s lowest price on Aug. 19 may be $2.76, reported by GasBuddy.com at a discount supermarket on the west side of Phoenix, Ariz.
Methodologies
GasBuddy bases its figures on reports from volunteer “price spotters” reporting specific locations in the U.S. and Canada. They are not independently confirmed.
The AAA’s prices are market averages for self-serve regular grade (87 octane) gasoline. They are calculated daily from credit card purchases and compiled by the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express.
Not every station is surveyed and not every market is included in either report. Both price surveys note that there can be wide variations within any market.
Gasoline prices throughout California are higher than the national average and usually among the highest in the nation. That is due in part to taxes and a state law mandating a special blend of fuel to reduce polluting emissions.
