Gas Prices Fall in State, U.S.

California and U.S. retail gasoline prices fell for the fifth straight week, mirroring a drop in crude oil costs, the government said Monday.

The California average for self-serve regular gasoline dropped 4.3 cents during the last week to $2.473 a gallon, but that was up 20.4 cents from a year ago, according to a weekly survey of gasoline stations by the Energy Information Administration. The U.S. average slipped 2.3 cents to $2.163 a gallon, up 14.6 cents from a year ago.

Pump prices are declining as crude oil costs drop. Light sweet crude for June delivery fell as low as $47.60 a barrel Monday but then recovered to settle at $48.61 a barrel, down 6 cents from Friday, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

U.S. crude oil prices peaked at $57.27 a barrel April 1 and have since dropped on a steady rise in American oil inventories and OPEC’s promise to keep pumping oil at full throttle. The price of crude oil accounts for about half the cost of making gasoline.

Separately, the price for diesel fuel fell 3.8 cents to $2.189 a gallon, the lowest level since early March but up 42.6 cents from last year, the EIA said. Truckers in California paid the most for diesel at $2.432 a gallon, down 8.6 cents from last week. The Midwest states had the cheapest diesel at $2.129 a gallon, down 2.8 cents.