Gasoline prices fell slightly this week amid signs that dropping crude oil-future prices could produce even lower pump prices in a few weeks, the Automobile Club of Southern California said Friday.

The average price of a gallon of self-serve unleaded regular was 2.627 dollars Friday in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area, eight- tenths of a cent less than last week but 15 cents more than last month and 42 cents more than at this time last year, according to the Auto Club.

The price had risen 3.8 cents from Dec. 22-29, 9.7 cents from Dec. 15-22 and 3 cents from Dec. 8-15.

"After an unusual three-week price increase in December, prices have settled back into a pattern of very little change that we have seen in past years around this time," Auto Club spokesperson Carol Thorp.

She added: "We are starting 2007 with price averages that are 16 to 18 percent higher than they were at the beginning of 2006, 30 percent higher than January 2005 and 60 percent higher than they were in January 2004."

Mild weather, which translates into lower heating-oil use, has prompted crude oil future prices to drop nearly 9 percent in the last two days, the biggest decline since December 2004.

Declines in crude oil future prices usually lead to lower pump prices several weeks later. However, the reduced usage could lead to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to reduce the production of crude -- in addition to the 1.2-million-barrel-a-day cut that went into effect late last year and the 500,000-barrel-a- day cut set to start next month -- which would produce higher retail prices.

Source: Xinhua