Gasoline prices continue to drop in California

Gasoline prices continued to slide in California and the rest of the nation as oil prices sank to their lowest level in nearly eight months, said a survey published on Wednesday.

In California, the average cost of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline dropped 8.2 cents during the last week to 2.601 dollars, down 36.3 cents from a year earlier, according to the weekly survey by federal Energy Information Administration.

Meanwhile, the U.S. average declined 4.9 cents to 2.261 dollars, down 58.7 cents from a year earlier.

The drop was due to the drop in crude oil prices, which account for about half the cost of making gasoline.

In New York futures trading Tuesday, light sweet crude for November delivery fell 1.44 dollars a barrel to settle at 58.52 dollars - the lowest close since Feb. 16. Crude peaked at a record 77.03 dollars in July.

This came amid doubts that OPEC was on the verge of slashing its output. Saudi Arabia indicated it would not reduce oil shipments to some customers next month, countering a call for a production cut of 1 million barrels a day by some members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Without the commitment of Saudi Arabia, OPEC's biggest member, to honor commitments to refiners in some Asian countries and the Mediterranean countries, the four-percent output reduction is unlikely to be implemented, analysts said.

Source: Xinhua