By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com
June 23, 2008
The national average price for regular gasoline has increased nearly a dime in the last two weeks, according to a survey by oil industry analyst Trilby Lundberg.
Lundberg places the nationwide average price at just less than $4.10 a gallon, a jump of 9.7 cents in two weeks.
The AAA Fuel Gauge Report posted an average national price at $4.072 with with 29 states and the District of Columbia showing an average price above $4.
The AAA survey reported a record high of $4.08 on Monday, June 16.
The national average is more than a dollar higher than one year ago.
The most expensive average price in still in California at $4.605. The state with the lowest average gasoline price is Oklahoma at $3.824 a gallon
Diesel now averages $4.772 across the country, down about a half-penny from the day before.
Any relief?
Is any relief in sight?
Saudi Arabia says it will pump more oil if that's what it takes to bring oil prices down from their record highs. But as OPEC members ended an emergency meeting over the weekend, other members of the oil cartel expressed skepticism that more oil on the market will influence prices.
OPEC President Chakib Khelil called the Saudi decision to produce more oil "illogical," saying the world is currently awash in oil and doesn't need more. Khelil made no secret that he views the current record prices for oil as a product of rampant speculation on the futures market.
That view is shared by some in Congress, where at least one lawmaker has introduced legislation to regulate hedge funds and non-users of oil out of the energy market.
Meanwhile, speculators continue to buy oil futures contracts. In fact, speculators are buying more oil futures contracts than oil companies, according to data provided to the House Energy and Commerce Committee by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
While the Bush Administration generally sees it as a matter of supply and demand, Khelil and some other OPEC ministers say investors are drawn to oil for the same reason they are buying gold as a hedge against a declining U.S. dollar.
