The national average price for regular gasoline declined 3.1 cents to $3.819 a gallon from a week earlier, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in a report posted on the agency’s website. The price was $3.476 a year ago, department data show.

Regular gasoline in California fell 3.6 cents a gallon to $4.623, the Energy Department said. Prices reached a record high of $4.671 in the state on Oct. 9, according to AAA, the nation’s largest motoring organization. A shortage of the fuel in California markets prompted state regulators last week to permit refineries to make gasoline with higher vapor pressure, allowing them to produce more by adding butane to the mix.

Retail gasoline dropped in all regions of the U.S. this week except on the Gulf Coast, where prices climbed 0.7 cent to $3.544 a gallon, the Energy Department said.