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Regular Gas Moving Up, 33 Cents Shy of $4

Prices moving up briskly as short respite ends

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 9, 2008

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Gasoline prices continue to set records moving closer to $4 a gallon, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report.

The national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline jumped 2.6 cents over night to $3.671, breaking the record set just the previous day.

The two-day record climb follows a short respite after a 17 day streak of record breaking prices that ended May 1. Mid-grade gasoline now sells for an average of $3.898 and premium is above $4 at $4.039.

Diesel sells for $426.9 and that is also a new record price. Demand for diesel fuel is also growing worldwide but supplies in the U.S. fell last week, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

One month ago regular gasoline sold for $3.343 and one year ago a gallon of regular fetched $3.037. Consumers now pay 21 percent more for a gallon of regular gasoline than one year ago.

The cost of a barrel of crude oil has also set a new record. Oil rose above $126 a barrel for the first time at week's end.

Oil prices are rising in part because of the declining value of the dollar. The president of OPEC claimed that the weak dollar is chiefly responsible for record U.S. gasoline prices.

Increasing supply would do little to reduce the pain at the pump for American drivers, he claimed. Chakib Khelil, Algeria's minister of energy and mining said increasing the oil production would not reduce gasoline prices in the U.S.

Here is a look at some gasoline prices from around the country in the ConsumerAffairs.Com Gas Price Round Up.

California: Californians are paying $3.929 a gallon for regular gasoline, the highest price on record. Mid-grade is selling for $4.183 across the state and premium sells for $425.2 a gallon.

San Francisco gasoline prices continue to lead the state. Regular goes for $4.016 in the City by the Bay, Mid-grade sells for $4.275 and premium costs $4.345.

After setting new records for 5 consecutive weeks, gasoline prices fell .06 of a cent in Los Angeles County but remained unchanged in Orange County, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California.

The average price for a gallon of self-serve regular unleaded gasoline in Los Angeles County is $3.896, 19 cents more than last month and 41 cents more than at this time last year.

In Orange County, the average is $3.873, 28 cents more than last month and 45.3 cents more than at this time in 2007.

"The price of crude oil keeps setting new records, and that continues to keep upward pressure on fuel prices," Auto Club spokesman Jeffrey Spring said.

"Even though many California cities haven't set new record prices in a few days, the rest of the country continues to break records daily. In fact, Alaska has overtaken California as the most expensive state for gasoline, with an average price over $3.93 a gallon."

Texas: Gasoline prices in the Lone Star state reached another record level this week as the rising cost of crude oil continued to produce higher prices at the pump.

Texans are paying, on average, a record-high $3.54 per gallon. This is a penny higher than last week.

"Record high crude oil prices above $120 a barrel continue to add upward momentum on retail gas prices," says AAA Texas spokeswoman Rose Rougeau.

In San Antonio, drivers are paying $3.51 on average for regular gas, the cheapest price in the state but up 1.6 cents from last week.

Amarillo drivers are paying the most for gas at $3.58 a gallon, up two cents from last week.

Florida: After several days of prices remaining stable, both the price of regular-grade unleaded gasoline and diesel fuel have again set a record.

According to the AAA Fuel Gauge daily report the average price of a gallon of regular gas in the Sunshine State is now $3.685, up more than a penny over night and up from $3.427 a month ago.

As for diesel fuel, its average is $4.267 a gallon, up more than a penny over night and up from $4.026 a month ago.

A year ago, according to AAA, gasoline was selling for $2.998 a gallon in Florida while diesel fuel was $2.946 a gallon.

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