Gasoline Prices Increase Again

Pump prices in California climbed for the fifth straight week, rising 2.7 cents to a statewide average of $1.753 for a gallon of regular self-serve gasoline, a federal survey found.

Including the latest increase, retail gasoline prices in California have jumped 15.8 cents a gallon since the beginning of the year, according to the Energy Information Administration, an arm of the Department of Energy.

Boosted in part by the high price of crude oil, the main ingredient for gasoline, prices have been moving up across most of the country. In the last week, however, the nationwide average slipped by six-tenths of a cent, to $1.616 a gallon for regular.

Elizabeth Douglass