Gasoline 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.

Retail gasoline prices fell in California and across much of the nation over the last week, while crude oil recovered a little of the previous weeks' losses. The average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline in California fell 3.1 cents to $4.336 a gallon, according to the Energy Department's weekly survey of fuel prices, released Monday. That followed two weeks of increases totaling 28.1 cents a gallon. Last year at this time, a gallon of regular gasoline in California was 12.1 cents cheaper.

Against the backdrop of gasoline prices rising in an election year, a new Obama administration report cites "significant progress" in reducing foreign oil imports and increasing domestic oil and gas production. The report by six federal agencies was released early Monday on the first anniversary of a speech by President Obama in which he pledged to reduce American dependence on foreign oil imports by one-third in about a decade. According to the study, the United States reduced net imports of crude oil last year by 10%, or 1 million barrels a day. The U.S. now imports 45% of its petroleum, down from 57% in 2008, and is on track to meet Obama's long-term goal, the administration maintains.

Falling energy and gasoline prices helped keep inflation in check last month and also pushed consumer confidence to a four-year high, according to two reports. An index of prices paid by factories, farms and other producers fell 0.2% in April from the previous month, the Labor Department said Friday. It was the first drop of the year and the most substantial one since October. Prices were 1.9% higher compared with April 2011, but represented seven consecutive months of slower increases after surging 7% in September.

U.S. motorists have seen the national average for regular gasoline rise above $3.50 a gallon in just three different years, but it has never happened this early. The national average hit $3.523 a gallon, the Energy Department said Monday, up 4.1 cents from a week earlier. Analysts said the early price shocker is probably a sign that pain at the pump will rise to some of the highest levels ever this year. "This definitely sets the stage, potentially, for much higher prices later this year," said Brian L. Milne, refined-fuels editor for Telvent DTN, a commodity information services firm.

California's streak of seven straight weeks of gasoline price declines has ended because of widespread refinery maintenance shutdowns that have reduced fuel supplies by nearly a third compared with a year ago. In California, the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline was $4.213 a gallon, up 2.7 cents from a week earlier, according to the Energy Department's weekly survey of service stations, released Monday. The U.S. average continued to fall, dropping 4 cents to $3.790 a gallon, the Energy Department survey showed.

Pump prices edged lower nationally and in California over the last week, the Energy Department said Monday, and analysts were predicting the trend would hold in the near term despite a strong day for oil futures. The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline fell another 2 cents in California to $2.961, according to the Energy Department's weekly survey of filling stations. Analysts said the state's numbers should continue to fall because the wholesale trading price for the unfinished fuel that is blended into the state's gasoline was running at $2.01 a gallon.

Crude oil futures prices rose sharply in brisk trading Wednesday, a reaction to tight inventories reported by the American Petroleum Institute. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the July contract for West Texas Intermediate, the key U.S. crude, ended at $19.66 a 42-gallon barrel, up 62 cents after a 43-cent gain Tuesday. The June contract expired Monday and finished at $20.93, with a gain of 33 cents from Friday's close. Prices of crude oil contracts for delivery after July all posted sharp gains.

"Maui no ka oi" is a popular Hawaiian saying that means Maui is the best. Mike Sweeney recently moved to this idyllic island from Denver and experienced the other side of paradise with his first visit to the gas pump. Maui is also No. 1 in the nation in gasoline prices. "After seeing the total, I won't be smiling," Sweeney said as he watched the numbers on the Chevron pump spin faster than a slot machine. The pump finally stopped at $97.20, which put 24 1/2 gallons in his Chevrolet Avalanche.

Just as the recovery is finally looking real, surging fuel prices are once again looming as a major threat to the financial health of U.S. consumers and the broader economy. The price surge has been particularly steep in California, in part because of maintenance at some refineries that make the state's cleaner-burning gasoline. Statewide, average pump prices for regular gasoline crossed the $4 mark over the weekend and reached an average of $4.031 a gallon Monday, up 5% in just the last week and nearly 9% higher than a month ago. "It doesn't bode well for the consumer," said Jeff Spring of the Automobile Club of Southern California.

California's streak of seven straight weeks of gasoline price declines has ended because of widespread refinery maintenance shutdowns that have reduced fuel supplies by nearly a third compared with a year ago. In California, the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline was $4.213 a gallon, up 2.7 cents from a week earlier, according to the Energy Department's weekly survey of service stations, released Monday. The U.S. average continued to fall, dropping 4 cents to $3.790 a gallon, the Energy Department survey showed.

Retail gasoline prices continued to fall nationally and in California over the last week, the Energy Department said. The U.S. average price for a gallon of regular gasoline fell 4 cents to $3.830, according to the Energy Department's weekly survey that was released Monday. The U.S. average hit its peak for the year of $3.941 a gallon on April 2 and has fallen for four straight weeks. A year earlier, U.S. drivers spent 5.1 cents more for a gallon of gas. In California, the average cost for a gallon of regular gasoline fell 1.7 cents to $4.186.

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.

The fifth straight week of gas price declines in Southern California has finally brought motorists back in range of what they were paying at the pump last year, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California's Weekend Gas Watch. The average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area, for example, fell another four cents since last week to $4.228, the Automobile Club said. That was 15.7 cents a gallon lower than last month's price and just a penny a gallon higher than what motorists were paying last year.

WASHINGTON - Facing heat for high gasoline prices, President Obama tried to shift the focus to Congress, Republicans and energy traders, calling for legislation that he said would "put more cops on the beat" to crack down on potential manipulation of the oil market. Obama called on Congress to provide more money for regulators and increase penalties for market manipulators. The president, flanked by Treasury SecretaryTimothy F. Geithnerand Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., suggested that traders and speculators are affecting the price of oil and digging into Americans' pocketbooks.

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.

California motorists bludgeoned by the nation's second highest retail gasoline prices may finally see some relief in the coming days. That's because the price for the nation's most expensive raw or unfinished gasoline, known as CARBOB, has been plumetting from its February highs, according to Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service in New Jersey. CARBOB is an acronym for a fairly ridiculous mouthful: California Reformulated Gasoline Blendstock for Oxygenate Blending.

With gasoline prices at nosebleed levels, MyGallons.com sounds like a great deal: Pre-purchase gasoline through the website and save cash as the price climbs. But pumpers should beware. In a new report, the Better Business Bureau gave Miami-based MyGallons.com an "F" rating, citing what it called "a material omission of fact" in the publicity material distributed as part of the service's launch 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.

Four straight weeks of declines at the pump have dropped regular gasoline at a few service stations in Southern California below $4 a gallon for the first time since February, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California's Weekend Gas Watch. The average cost of a gallon of regular in California is still 6.5 cents higher than it was at this time last year, at $4.245. But that is a drop of 4.5 cents a gallon since last week and a drop of 11.6 cents since last month. "A little more price competition appears to be happening among gas stations, which is good news for drivers," said Auto Club spokesman Jeffrey Spring.