State’s gas prices rise
Retail gasoline prices rose in California over the last week, bucking the course of the rest of the nation, which saw costs drop by nearly 3 cents, the Energy Department said Monday.
The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular in California rose 2.2 cents to $2.632, according to the weekly survey of filling stations conducted by the Energy Information Administration, the statistics arm of the Energy Department. That was 30.4 cents above the year-earlier price and reflected what analysts said was the region’s relatively tight refining capacity.
Nationally, the average price fell 2.8 cents to $2.306 a gallon. A year earlier, the average was 2.1 cents higher.
In New York futures trading, crude oil futures for February delivery briefly rallied as high as $57.72 a barrel after an escalating trade dispute between Russia and Belarus led to the shutdown of a major oil pipeline, affecting supplies to Poland and Germany.
But the rally faltered and oil closed at $56.09, down 22 cents.
Some analysts said Monday that they expected oil to remain above $55 a barrel, considered an important threshold below which prices could drop much lower. They cited factors such as continuing strong demand for oil in India and China as well as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s announcement Monday that he would nationalize the country’s utilities.
