L.A.’s the Place for Lower Gasoline Prices, Analysts Say

Retail gasoline prices have fallen far more rapidly in California than the rest of the nation, and Los Angeles is in the trend’s fast lane.

It’s unclear exactly why pump prices should have declined twice as much in Southern California.

“We’ve looked at that,” said Claudia Chandler, the assistant executive director of the California Energy Commission. She said the best theory is that there’s just more competition in the Los Angeles area.

“There are a lot more retail outlets down there,” she said.

The oil companies insist that whatever the cause, it’s market forces and not collusion of the kind that the Justice Department is currently searching for in an antitrust investigation of oil price jumps earlier this year.

Scott Loll, a spokesman for Los Angeles-based Atlantic Richfield Co., the lowest priced of the major gasoline retailers, said Arco does “whatever we can to keep our dealers competitive.”

For whatever reasons, San Francisco Bay Area drivers have been paying much more to fill up their tanks.

Analyst Trilby Lundberg, who tracks pump prices nationally, said that according to her latest survey, on Aug. 23, self-serve regular unleaded averaged $1.46 a gallon in the Bay Area and $1.28 in Los Angeles.

Prices throughout California shot up last spring, leading price increases seen nationwide. Crude oil prices increased beginning in February, and some suppliers cut production on the theory that Iraqi oil might flood the marketplace.

Then certain California-specific events complicated matters. A state-mandated switch-over to cleaner-burning gas disrupted supplies. A line leak and small fire closed Arco’s Los Angeles refinery, and a major fire shut down Shell’s refinery in Martinez. With all that, California prices rose far faster than did those in other states.

Lundberg said California prices peaked May 10, whereas nationwide, the zenith came May 24.

From those peaks, the average national price has fallen by 8 1/4 cents, Lundberg said Friday. But for the Bay Area, prices were down nearly 13 cents and for the Los Angeles area, they were down by more than 25 cents, she said.

Lundberg, Chandler and others said there are no big supply disruptions right now. With the summer driving season at an end after today, pressure for lower prices is expected to continue.

As for the north-south price disparities, Michael E. Libbey, a spokesman for San Francisco-based Chevron Corp., said “a very complex marketplace” sets prices.