Lower seasonal demand, a drop in wholesale...

Lower seasonal demand, a drop in wholesale costs and heightened retail sales competition combined to push gasoline prices down a full cent in the first week of the new year, an oil industry analyst said. The national average price of a gallon of gasoline was 98.04 cents, a cent lower than the price Dec. 16, said Trilby Lundberg, whose Lundberg Letter regularly surveys pump prices at 13,000 service stations across the country. Prices at self-serve stations, where most gasoline is sold, averaged 87.81 cents for regular unleaded, 104.08 cents for premium unleaded and 84.41 cents for regular leaded. At full-service stations, prices averaged 118.24 cents for regular unleaded, 129.69 for premium unleaded and 114.78 for regular leaded.