USA Gas Takes Over ARCO Station on Topanga Canyon Blvd.

As the price of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County fell under $4 for the first time since Feb. 17, there are signs that ARCO has begun to leave the Los Angeles market.

The ARCO gasoline station at Devonshire Street and Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Chatsworth is being converted to a USA Gasoline station.

Back in March, Patch reported that after 46 years in the Southland, by Tesoro-owned USA Gasoline pumps.

BP, which has owned Arco since 2000, is not renewing its leases with Thrifty Oil Co. at 257 station sites. And about 100 ARCO franchisees lost their stations as leases began to expire in April.

It's all part of BP's plan to sell a 630-acre Carson refinery and leave the market.

But while that was going on, the average gas price dropped another 1.4 cents to $3.994 Sunday.

The average price has decreased for 32 consecutive days and is 13.4 cents less than one week ago and 41.1 cents lower than one month ago, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service.

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However, the average price is 6.2 cents higher than one year ago.

The decreasing pump prices are the result "of the rapid drop in wholesale prices" that began late last month when the supply started increasing after maintenance was completed in refineries in Southern and Northern California, according to Jeffrey Spring of the Automobile Club of Southern California.

-- City News Service contributed to this report.