Fuel Prices

As the temperature plunged to minus-40 degrees last month, Nastasia Wassilie waited. The 61-year-old widow had run out of wood and fuel oil, and had no money to buy more. Nor was there much food in the house. But people here in rural Alaska try to take care of themselves. Her sister would come to help. Surely she would.

WARREN, Mich. -- General Motors Corp. said today its Chevrolet Volt rechargeable electric car should get 230 miles per gallon of gasoline in city driving, more than four times the mileage of the current champion, the Toyota Prius. The Volt is powered by an electric motor and a battery pack with a 40-mile range. After that, a small internal combustion engine kicks in to generate electricity for a total range of 300 miles. The battery pack can be recharged from a standard home outlet.

Crude oil fell sharply on the New York futures market Monday, down $2.82 to $95.09 a barrel, on concerns that a cooling U.S. economy would curb demand. But retail gasoline prices were still playing catch-up and climbed higher over the last week in California and the U.S., the Energy Department said. The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in California rose 3 cents to $3.

Record fuel prices and weakening demand for air travel are taking a toll on profits of major U.S. airlines, raising prospects of a consolidation in the industry this year. Recent merger talks and Thursday's announcement by American Airlines Inc. that it would double its fuel surcharge to $40 on round-trip tickets signaled that passengers could soon see higher fares industrywide.

Flying to Tokyo this spring? United Airlines last week offered a round-trip flight for as little as $400 -- plus $300 in fuel charges. With oil prices high, fuel surcharges on many international flights have climbed in recent months to nearly half the price of a ticket. U.S. visitors to Spain can expect to pay up to $390 in fuel surcharges for a round-trip flight. Air New Zealand imposes up to $360 in fuel fees. There doesn't seem to be any relief in sight as fares surge with the price of fuel.

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.

The five largest U.S. air carriers raised fares $10 round-trip on most domestic routes as fuel prices climbed to record highs, airlines and fare monitors said Monday. Airlines boosted prices on both advance-purchase tickets and those bought just before travel. There was no increase on fares in direct competition with low-cost carriers like Southwest Airlines Co., Tom Parsons of Bestfares.com said. U.S.

Retail gasoline prices skyrocketed during the last week -- up on average nearly 14 cents a gallon in California and nearly 9 cents nationwide -- as record oil prices trickled down to the pump, a government report showed Monday. California drivers are paying an average of $3.328 a gallon for self-serve regular gasoline, up 13.7 cents from the Monday before and 53.2 cents higher than a year earlier, according to the Energy Department's weekly survey of service stations.

The prospect of sharply higher fuel prices, including $4-a-gallon gasoline, may not have made it into Oval Office briefing books, perhaps explaining why President Bush was surprised Thursday when a reporter mentioned what energy analysts are saying could happen soon in many parts of the country. "Wait, what did you just say? You're predicting $4-a-gallon gasoline?" Bush responded to a reporter who said some analysts expect prices to soon climb that high. "That's interesting. I hadn't heard that.

Crude oil jumped to a new high above $108 a barrel Monday, dragging retail gasoline and diesel prices along for record rides of their own despite ample fuel supplies. Anyone hoping that the surge might have reached its peak is in for a rude awakening. Analysts say that $110 a barrel or higher is possible given that the usual rules of supply and demand aren't driving the oil-price party train. And the Goldman Sachs Group Inc.