By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com
February 26, 2007
Spanish version
Gasoline prices are soaring once again, up 21 cents in just one month for a gallon of regular self-serve.
Two-thirds of the increase, or 13 cents a gallon, was tacked on by big oil to the price you pay at the pump in the past two weeks.
The national average for self-serve regular sits at $2.35 per gallon. That is up 12.8 cents since February 9, according to the latest Lundberg survey of 7,000 gas stations across the country.
"Retailers have received large wholesale price increases that exceeded their ability to boost retail prices," Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said. "Some retailers in about one-third of the cities are currently in red ink and they will have to recover their operating margins by raising prices soon."
The average for mid-grade is now $2.50 per gallon, and premium is selling for $2.62.
Oil prices reached a new high for the year Friday at $61.14 but Lundberg said that even if oil prices do not rise, there will be upward pressure on retail gasoline prices while refineries switch from winter heating oil to summer gasoline.
The AAA Auto club of Hawthorne, Florida reported that the latest price spike is tied not only to crude oil prices, but also to the weather. The auto club expects prices to continue rising throughout March.
U.S. demand for gasoline during the past four weeks totaled 9.1 million barrels a day, 3.8 percent higher than the same period last year, according to the Energy Department. Year-on-year consumption growth for gasoline has averaged 1.5 percent to 2 percent over past two decades, according to the department.
Disputante, Virginia has the lowest regular gasoline average price at $1.91. The most expensive gallon of regular gasoline in the contiguous U.S. is found in Kirkwood, California at $3.85.
