Riverside County gas prices take slight dip

A 20-day streak of increases ended today when the average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in the Inland Empire fell two-tenths of a cent to $4.097.
The average price in Riverside and San Bernardino counties rose 30.4 cents during the streak, including two-tenths of a cent on Sunday, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service.
The average price is 2.9 cents more than one week ago, 36.6 cents higher than one month ago and 39.3 cents greater than one year ago.
The stretch of rising prices was initially triggered by increasing crude oil prices, which were partially the result of increasing Middle East tensions. A latter cause of the rising prices was the Aug. 6 fire at the Chevron refinery in Richmond, which prompted wholesale gasoline prices to begin rising the following day, reflecting fears of reduced supplies.