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Southern California Gas Prices Down By Double Digits

Spike was caused by panic-buying on the part of gas station owners, Auto Club says.

By Sharon Bernstein

| Thursday, Jun 7, 2012 | Updated 1:01 PM PDT

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It may not seem like it, but the price of a gallon of gasoline is actually going down.

Marie Montgomery, a spokeswoman for the Automobile Club of Southern California, said the average price of a gallon of regular dropped 15 cents in Los Angeles County and 17 cents in Orange County this week.

“Don’t pay above $4 a gallon right now,” Montgomery said. “Shop around.”

Prices rose in May, Montgomery said, because gas station owners thought there was going to be a shortage, and rushed to buy up as much gasoline as they could.

“There was a bit of panic-buying on the market,” Montgomery said. “It was caused by a perceived shortage that turned out not to be as bad as they thought it was going to be.”

According to the Auto Club’s online price tracker, the average price of a gallon of regular in Los Angeles County was $4.183 on Thursday. That's still higher than this time last year, when a gallon cost $4.003, but lower than earlier in the week.

The lowest price in town, according to the tracking website “Gas Buddy.com,” was $3.79, at a station called 66 Bell Garden Gas at Eastern Ave. and Jaboneria Road.

The highest price, according to the site, was $5.25 at a Mobil station at Hacienda Boulevard and E. Gale Avenue in Hacienda Heights.