Gas prices fall in U.S., up in Calif.

U.S. retail gasoline prices fell over the last week to the lowest level in almost four months, mirroring a decline in motor fuel demand, but California got no relief at the pump, the government said Monday.

The national price for regular gasoline decreased 1.8 cents over the last week to an average $2.96 a gallon, the Energy Department said in its weekly survey of service stations. Though the average pump price remained up 72 cents from a year earlier, it was the cheapest since Oct. 29.

In California, however, the average pump price rose 0.1 cent to $3.108 a gallon. The state’s average price, which has dropped 32 cents since early January, was 48 cents higher than a year earlier.

The drop in fuel costs followed a decline in gasoline demand in each of the previous three weeks, the Energy Department said.

Savings at the pump could be short-lived if the latest jump in crude oil prices sticks and is passed on to consumers.

U.S. oil rose Monday by $1.82 to settle at $93.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after gaining $3.66 on Friday, because of colder weather in the Northeast, several oil refinery outages and threats by Venezuela to stop oil shipments to the United States.

In the Energy Department’s latest weekly survey, the West Coast remained the most expensive region with gasoline selling at an average $3.06 a gallon, up half a penny. Among major cities, San Francisco had the highest price at $3.192, down 3.1 cents.

The Gulf Coast states had the cheapest regional price at $2.851 a gallon, down 2.1 cents. Houston had the most affordable city gasoline at $2.809 a gallon, down 2.7 cents.