Survey Foresees Higher Prices for Gasoline Nationwide

Prices at the nation’s gas pumps fell slightly during the holidays but are likely to creep back up in the coming weeks, an industry analyst said Sunday.

The average price, including taxes, for all grades of gas was 119.56 cents a gallon, according to the Jan. 6 Lundberg Survey of 10,000 stations across the country. That was a drop of 0.40 cent from Dec. 16.

Motorists in some parts of the country have already seen pump prices rise a little as supplies of new cleaner-burning gasoline move into the marketplace, said Trilby Lundberg, publisher of the Lundberg Survey. “The overall national average has dropped probably for the last time,” Lundberg said. “If crude oil prices remain steady, retail prices will likely edge up a bit in the next few weeks.”

The average price at self-service pumps was 112.68 cents for regular unleaded, 123.29 cents for mid-grade unleaded, 131.75 for premium unleaded and 118.58 cents for regular leaded.

Average full-service prices were 147.57 cents for regular unleaded, 156.29 cents for mid-grade, 163.61 cents for premium unleaded and 130.82 cents for regular leaded.