Pump prices rise in California, nationwide
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Retail gasoline prices climbed about 3 cents a gallon nationally and in California over the last week, the Energy Department said Monday as oil prices appeared to be stuck between $80 and $85 a barrel.
The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in California rose 3 cents to $3.091, according to the Energy Department’s weekly survey of filling stations. Nationally the average price rose 3.1 cents to $2.819 a gallon.
Both averages were considerably higher than they were at this time last year, when gasoline was averaging just $2.154 a gallon in California and about $1.962 a gallon nationwide.
The only good news, analysts said, was that gasoline prices were probably near their peak for the year, barring a serious disruption in supplies.
Edgar Ang, an analyst for the Oil Price Information Service in Wall, N.J., said that no price surges were expected because summer-grade gasoline would be plentiful with imports arriving next month from Canada, Europe and the Caribbean.
Light, sweet crude oil for April delivery rose 57 cents, or 0.7%, to $81.25 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Some analysts said that oil was due for a fall as the Euro lost ground in value compared with the U.S. dollar over continuing concerns about Greek’s economic collapse and the cost of a European bailout.
“With the Greece debt situation still overhanging the market and taking away some confidence from the Euro, the dollar should gain even more strength. For oil, that means the market is open to a wider correction,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst for PFGBest Research in Chicago.
-- Ronald D. White
