Culver City Observer -

Wire Services

Prices have gone up for 24 days in a row in Los Angeles County as of Friday morning, with the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline now $5.908.

3.18.22: The price of a barrel of oil has fallen about 20% from its recent high of $120 per barrel on March 12th. But gasoline prices in Southern California have risen to new levels.

Prices have gone up for 24 days in a row in Los Angeles County as of Friday morning, with the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline now $5.908, according to AAA.

That's up three cents since Wednesday, when the average LA County price was $5.876.

The average price has increased $1.12 during the streak, including 1.3 cents Thursday, setting a record each day, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service. It is 10.5 cents more than one week ago, $1.126 higher than one month ago and $1.988 greater than one year ago.

In California on Friday, the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline was $5.80, according to AAA.

Average prices in So Cal Counties, as of Friday morning according to AAA:

• $5.908 in Los Angeles County

• $5.867 in Ventura County

• $5.868 in Orange County

• $5.794 in Riverside County

• $5.815 in San Bernardino County

Part of the reason for the high prices is an issue at a local refinery that's limiting some of the supply, according to Doug Shupe, the Automobile Club of Southern California's corporate communications manager.

"The Torrance PBF refinery is having issues restarting a key unit that went offline after a March 6 power outage and that supply issue is continuing to put upward pressure on gas prices locally," said Shupe.

But the increase in oil prices from the instability in Russia and Ukraine, and a lack of response to the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike, has also kept gas prices on the rise.