Southern California gas prices keep inching down, dropping a 15th day in a row

Gas prices continue to drop, but unfortunately not fast enough to lessen the pain at the pump.

The average price of a gallon self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County dropped for a 15th day in a row. However, Tuesday's drop was a measly 1.3 cents to $5.849 — which is 11.1 cents less than a week ago, but still $1.87 higher than a year ago.

Orange County is also seeing gas prices headed in the right direction — the average price for that gallon of regular gas dropped for a 14th day in a row, but the drop was still just 1.6 cents to $5.803. Over 14 days, OC's average price for a gallon of regular gas has dropped 22.6 cents.

Gas prices are inching their way down and are at their lowest level since Feb. 28 — despite two Southern California refineries having unexpected maintenance issues over the weekend, and a fire that could affect production at a Valero refinery in Northern California, according to the Automobile Club's Marie Montgomery.

"At the moment, there is still plenty of room for local gas station prices to decrease further," she said.

The Biden administration has been searching for ways to bring gas prices down. About two weeks ago, the president ordered release of up to 1 million barrels of oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and this week, the EPA plans to allow a gasoline blend that includes ethanol to be continued to be sold into the summer.