Gas price falls 2.4 cents in U.S., rises 1.2 cents in state
The average price U.S. consumers pay for gasoline fell 2.4 cents over the last week to $2.788 a gallon while California drivers saw the average rise 1.2 cents to $2.973 a gallon, the government said Monday.
The national price for regular gasoline is up 48 cents from a year earlier, the Energy Department said in its weekly survey of service stations. The California price is up 29 cents from a year earlier.
Pump prices generally fall this time of year when gasoline demand drops off after the summer vacation driving season. Demand for gasoline, based on the four-week average, fell 2.8% in the last month to 9.36 million barrels a day for the week ended Sept. 21, the Energy Department said.
However, current high crude oil prices could send gasoline prices up again as oil costs are passed on to consumers at the pump, the agency said.
The West Coast was the most expensive region surveyed, up 1.2 cents to $2.922 a gallon.
Among major cities, San Francisco had the highest gasoline costs at $3.018, up half a penny.
The Gulf Coast states had the lowest price by region at $2.70 a gallon, down half a penny.
Houston had the cheapest pump price at $2.604 a gallon, up 1.3 cents.
The average price that truckers paid for diesel fuel increased 1.6 cents to $3.048 a gallon, up 50 cents from a year earlier and the highest since mid-August 2006. California’s average diesel price was $3.143, up a nickel.
In New York futures trading, oil prices fell Monday but still closed above the psychologically important $80-a-barrel level as investors grew more concerned that market fundamentals do not support the high prices achieved in crude’s record-setting September rally.
Light, sweet crude for November delivery fell $1.42 to settle at $80.24 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after dipping as low as $79.45. On Friday, the contract rose to within 14 cents of hitting the Sept. 20 trading record of $83.90 a barrel before retreating sharply and closing down $1.22.
