Fuel Prices

Gasoline prices are keeping up their record-setting ways. California drivers paid an average of $4.358 for a gallon of regular gasoline, up 6.6 cents from a week earlier, the Energy Department said Monday. That's a fresh record high for this time of year and is 48.4 cents above the year-earlier price. Nationally, the average rose 7.2 cents to $3.793, also a record for this week, according to Energy Department statistics. A year earlier, the average U.S. price was 27.3 cents lower.

The Metrolink commuter rail service plans to increase fares as early as July to help reduce a $13-million budget deficit largely caused by rising fuel and labor costs, railroad officials said Thursday. If approved, the proposed increase of 5% to 9% will cover only part of the shortfall, making it necessary for Metrolink to seek additional subsidies from the five county transportation agencies that help fund the railroad. "The current economic climate, including soaring fuel prices, requires tough decisions by transportation leaders to fund operations at a level that will continue to meet the region's transportation needs," said John Fenton, Metrolink's chief executive officer.

Airfares are rising, planes are packed, and carriers are abandoning less-profitable routes. What's to blame? Climbing fuel prices. And there will be no relief in the immediate future, according to an analysis released by the Federal Aviation Administration. "Planes will remain crowded," said the report released Thursday, and "shrinking capacity will further lift fares higher in 2012. " The nation's airlines buy about 48 million gallons of fuel each day at a price that jumped nearly 40% in the last year.

Gasoline prices fell again around the nation, the Energy Department's weekly survey showed, with the U.S. average dropping below the year-earlier price for the first time in 2 1/2 years. Analysts called it a milestone, even though it probably didn't feel like much relief to motorists. The national average fell 5.2 cents to $3.87 a gallon, the Energy Department said. The average was nearly a penny below the price a year earlier, the first time that has happened since October 2009.

Airfares keep heading up. In the latest rate hike for 2012, the nation's largest air carriers have increased fares $4 to $10 per round trip, citing higher fuel costs. The bump up in prices — the third increase this year — was initiated Monday morning by Southwest Airlines, the nation's largest carrier of domestic passengers. American, Delta, US Airways, United, Frontier and Virgin America had all matched the Southwest hike by noon, according to FareCompare, a travel website that keeps track of such increases.

The pain at the pump can be felt in China too. The government on Tuesday raised retail prices for gasoline and diesel fuel for the second time in less than six weeks in an attempt to keep pace with soaring crude oil prices. Chinese motorists are now paying $4.43 a gallon for 90-octane fuel — nearly equal to the $4.45-a-gallon average for mid-grade fuel in California, according to AAA. In contrast with the U.S., retail pump prices in China are set by central authorities, in part to maintain social stability.

Just as in past gas spikes, the prices for used compact cars and hybrids are starting to rise quickly, according to auto information company Kelley Blue Book. While the average price of used fuel-efficient compacts at auction rose just a modest 0.4% in February, the values jumped 1.3% in the last week of the month. Hybrid prices rose by 3.6% in the last week, Kelley Blue Book said. “The 2010 Toyota Prius led in gains, increasing in value $1,370 through the month of February,” said Alec Gutierrez, an analyst at Kelley Blue Book.  “Dealers have been aggressively bidding on fuel-efficient vehicles at auction as consumer demand increases in response to rising gas prices.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan's bungled effort to raise the country's fuel prices to the market rate has hurt his international reputation as a potential reformer and infuriated a population tired of decades of rapacious government. The nation incurred almost $1.3 billion in economic losses during a nationwide strike that followed Jonathan's announcement Jan. 1 that the government was ending a fuel subsidy that kept gasoline prices low, the National Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday.

Pity the pool man. The profit is being drained from his chlorinated world because of the high price of energy. It's boosting his expenses on all fronts: the gasoline that powers the pickups, the chemicals that burn away algae, even the nets that whisk away leaves and dead bugs. To compensate, pool service technicians -- that's what the industry calls pool cleaners -- are cautiously raising prices, trying to stay afloat without losing customers to the constant allure of do-it-yourself savings.

 Gasoline prices are dropping for the second straight week, but don't get too excited. Fuel prices have peaked before mid-May just once in the past 20 years, according to Energy Department statistics, and it hasn't happened since 1998. History suggests that the national average won't peak before mid-May at the earliest. The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline fell to $3.907, down another 2 cents since last week, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report. Fuel prices first began to fall in California about a month ago, although the decline has been slow.

Gasoline prices dropped around much of the nation for the second straight week, an Energy Department survey showed. But don't get too excited. History suggests that prices will rise at least a few more times in the next few weeks, analysts said. Fuel prices have peaked before mid-May just once in the last 20 years, according to Energy Department statistics, and it hasn't happened since 1998. The Energy Department's latest survey, conducted Monday, found that the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline fell 1.7 cents to $3.922 since the previous Monday.

 Gasoline prices are dropping for the second straight week, but don't get too excited. Fuel prices have peaked before mid-May just once in the past 20 years, according to Energy Department statistics, and it hasn't happened since 1998. History suggests that the national average won't peak before mid-May at the earliest. The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline fell to $3.907, down another 2 cents since last week, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report. Fuel prices first began to fall in California about a month ago, although the decline has been slow.

China's inflation rose slightly in March, tempering confidence that China can turn to stimulus should its slowing economy falter in the coming months. Rising food and fuel prices helped drive China's consumer price index up 3.6% from the same month a year earlier, China's National Bureau of Statistics said Monday. That was a modest rise from the 3.2% annual rate in February. China raised its retail prices for gasoline and diesel March 20 for the second time in six weeks -- hikes that probably contributed to the rising food costs.

Gas prices have soared about 15% in the last six months, hitting $3.94 a gallon on average nationwide, and $4.29 in California. The mood of motorists? Meh. Partisan finger-pointing aside, polls suggest that most people aren't as worked up over gas prices as they were four years ago, when a gallon of regular hit a national average of $4.11 a gallon. Nor has there been as much clamor for drastic measures, such as tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Texas and Louisiana.

If fuel costs continue to rise, more than half of Americans said they may rethink their plans for summer road trips, according a new national survey. For vacationers who plan to travel by car this summer, 54% said higher fuel costs would affect their vacation plans, according to a survey of 2,500 Americans by the U.S. Travel Assn ., the trade group for the nation's travel industry. If the price of a gallon of gas rises by at least 26 cents, 57% of those who plan to travel by car this summer said they would definitely alter their plans.

Airfares keep heading up. In the latest rate hike for 2012, the nation's largest air carriers have increased fares $4 to $10 per round trip, citing higher fuel costs. The bump up in prices — the third increase this year — was initiated Monday morning by Southwest Airlines, the nation's largest carrier of domestic passengers. American, Delta, US Airways, United, Frontier and Virgin America had all matched the Southwest hike by noon, according to FareCompare, a travel website that keeps track of such increases.

Analysts are concerned that high oil prices and the run of of record level gasoline prices this spring could derail the U.S. economic recovery. But so far there are still some important differences between 2012 and 2008, when soaring energy prices helped tip the nation into recession. Among those expressing concerns was Fadel Gheit, senior energy analyst for Oppenheimer & Co., who raised them in a note to investors today. "Oil prices are inflated by more than 30%, driven by excessive speculation on increased fears of supply disruptions from the Middle East in the event of military strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities," Gheit said.

Hundreds of students angered by rising fuel prices vandalized a provincial government office in Ujungpandang, about 890 miles east of Jakarta, witnesses said. There were no immediate reports of injuries. Witnesses said the students marched from a nearby university campus where they had burned two cars and set up roadblocks. At the government building, they smashed windows and broke down doors to get inside.

Beyond tensions over Iran and refinery problems, the recent jump in gasoline prices stems partly from an encouraging sign: The economy is improving. The demand for crude oil has risen as the recovery from the severe global recession has picked up steam in the U.S. and abroad. That, in turn, has helped fuel higher prices at the pump, economists and industry analysts said. "A lot of what drives prices is projection of future demand," said Carl A. Larry, president of Oil Outlooks and Opinions, a research and consulting firm.

Will higher gas prices help lift sales of electric vehicles? Lacey Plache, the chief economist for Edmunds.com, says the hurdles are still too high for widespread adoption of electric vehicles. In an analysis for automotive research firm R.L. Polk & Co., Plache says one problem is that there still isn't a lot of choice when it comes to electrics and plug-in hybrids. Although at least nine electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles are expected to become available in 2012, only the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt are widely available.