Southern California gasoline prices declined significantly over the past week for the first time since June, the Automobile Club of Southern California (ACSC) reported on Friday.

The average price of self-serve regular in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area stood at 3.183 dollars a gallon this morning -- 5 cents less than last week and 9 cents less than last month, but 39 cents more than at this time last year, the ACSC reported.

The average price fell 1 cent from July 14-21, 1.7 cents from July 21-28, 2.4 cents from July 28-Aug. 4, nine-tenths of a cent from Aug. 4-11 and one-tenth of a cent from Aug. 11-18 after three weeks of rising prices.

In Orange County, the average price was 3.148 dollars this morning, 5 cents less than last week.

The Orange County average rose 1 cent from Aug. 11-18 after falling 1.8 cents from July 14-21, 1.4 cents from July 21-28, 2 cents from July 28-Aug. 4 and 2.2 cents from Aug. 4-11 following two weeks of rising.

"This summer has not copied the patterns of the last few years, which saw prices drop significantly in June and July, then rise rapidly in August," ACSC spokeswoman Carol Thorp said.

"Southern California drivers saw some brief relief in June when pump prices retreated from all-time records in May, but the downturn quickly ended in July. We are just now returning to the price levels we were paying at the end of June," he said.

The ACSC provided this breakdown of gasoline prices in the region.

Source: Xinhua