By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com
November 13, 2009
The recent rise in gasoline prices has stalled, with the national average price sliding back to $2.645 a gallon, according to AAA. That's down just over three cents a gallon from last Friday.
The average price of diesel fuel is $2.827, a penny less than a week ago.
Missouri has the lowest average price gas in the nation today with a price of $2.456 a gallon. It's followed by South Carolina, at $2.486 and Oklahoma at $2.496 a gallon.
Alaska and Hawaii have the most expensive gas, at $3.397 and $3.32 respectively. California is third with an average price of $2.97 a gallon, the second straight week its average has fallen below the $3 mark.
San Francisco has California's most expensive gas, with an average price of $3.094 a gallon. The state's cheapest gas is in Yuba City, with an average price of $2.785 a gallon.
Andrew Delmege, AAA's manager of regulatory affairs, earlier predicted that the rise in gas prices would stall. He says much of the recent increase in fuel prices - as well as world oil prices - is being driven by a very weak U.S. dollar.
"While dollar weakness and high jobless rates continue to plague the markets, there doesn't seem to be much else behind this latest surge in oil prices," Delmege said. "It is a well known fact the current fundamentals for higher prices remain incredibly weak, as supplies remain vast and demand - though expected to begin improving soon - remains very low."
In fact, there still appear to be plenty of oil and gasoline on hand. The latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows stockpiles of crude oil rose by 1.8 million barrels last week. Gasoline inventories were up 2.5 million barrels. Even distillate stockpiles, which include heating oil, increased by 300,000 barrels.
The bottom line? America is using less energy. Gasoline demand dropped 1.9 percent from a week ago, according to the EIA.
