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The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County rose Thursday for the 30th consecutive day, increasing 1 cent to a record $6.031.
The average price has risen $1.244 during the streak, including 1 cent Wednesday, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service. It is 14.2 cents more than one week ago, $1.209 higher than one month ago and $2.103 greater than one year ago.
The Orange County average price rose for the 33rd consecutive day, increasing 1.3 cents to a record $5.989. It has risen $1.229 during the streak, including nine-tenths of a cent Wednesday.
The Orange County average price is 13.8 cents more than one week ago, $1.187 higher than one month ago and $2.084 greater than one year ago.
“Southern California gas prices are continuing to move higher due to refinery issues we have been experiencing recently,” Doug Shupe, the Automobile Club of Southern California’s corporate communications manager, told City News Service.
“PBF Energy refineries in Torrance and Martinez and a Valero refinery outside of San Francisco have experienced unexpected problems in recent weeks that caused a reduction in gasoline production and therefore more increases at the gas pumps.”
The Torrance Refinery has been having issues restarting a key unit that went offline after a March 6 power outage, and there’s “no word yet on when things will return to full operation,” Shupe said.
There was no response to an email sent to the Torrance Refinery asking when it will return to full operation.
The Torrance Refinery is capable of producing 1.8 billion gallons of gasoline per year, nearly 10% of the state’s demand, a refinery official said.
While the Los Angeles County average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline rose 14.2 cents over the past week and the Orange County average price 13.8 cents, the national average dropped 5.3 cents, primarily because of the lower global price of crude oil, according to Andrew Gross, an AAA national public relations manager.
