Gasoline prices on the rise
Retail gasoline prices are on the rise again after five straight weeks of decline. The new increases are adding to the pain of historically high fuel costs for this time of year.
In California, which has returned to its customary position as the most expensive state for fuel in the 48 contiguous states, the average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline rose 4.9 cents over the last week to $3.864. The numbers are from the Energy Department, which conducts a weekly survey of service stations around the U.S.
A year earlier, the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in California was $3.147, the Energy Department said. In the last year, that means the cost of filling a typical 15-gallon tank has gone up $10.76. That’s an annual cost increase of $559.52 if that tank is getting filled up once a week.
Nationally, the price was also on the rise, up 5.9 cents over the last week to an average of $3.476 for a gallon of regular gasoline. A year earlier, the national average was $2.834 a gallon.
One major reason for the increases was that the U.S. is exporting a considerable amount of fuel overseas, leaving the nation’s supplies more vulnerable to sudden price bumps if there are any refinery outages or jumps in the price of crude oil.
U.S. exports of distillate fuel, a category that includes diesel, are averaging a record high 730,000 barrels a day, a 32% increase from the average a year earlier.
In other energy news, the two major benchmarks for trading in crude oil were lower Monday, largely because of new fears that there would be no quick solution to the European debt crisis.
Brent North Sea crude oil fell $2.07 to $110.16 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange in London. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude fell 42 cents to $86.38 after rising as high as $88.18 during the day.
“Highlighting what I’ve reiterated for weeks, we’re seeing gasoline prices continue their volatile trend, and this time that trend is upward,” said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com, where members report the lowest and highest prices they see.
“Over the next week, we’ll see a continued rise in gasoline prices,” DeHaan said.
