Gasoline Prices Continue Slow Decline

Gasoline prices continued to dribble lower this past week in the wake of a decision by OPEC and other oil-producing nations to increase petroleum production.

The average price in California for self-serve regular unleaded gasoline fell nearly 2 cents to $1.771 a gallon on Monday from a week earlier, according to a weekly survey of 800 gasoline stations nationwide by the Energy Information Administration. The national average fell half a cent to $1.503 a gallon, the survey said.

It was the second consecutive decline in U.S. and California gas prices, which have been rising since mid-January because of higher oil prices and extremely low gasoline inventories. Prices are still sharply higher than a year ago, when U.S. motorists were paying 39 cents a gallon less and Californians were paying 18.5 cents a gallon less.

Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries last week decided to increase oil production by 1.7 million barrels a day in April, with Mexico and Norway adding 250,000 more barrels a day to the total.

OPEC President Ali Rodriguez said Monday that the oil cartel probably would boost output again in the third quarter.

U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said that the decline in fuel prices should continue as new supplies from OPEC are refined into gasoline and begin arriving at U.S. gas pumps in the next four to six weeks.

“We are sticking by our view . . . of gradual, modest reduction in gasoline prices,” Richardson said at a news conference.