Gasoline Prices

Pump prices eased in California and around the nation during the last week, a federal report showed Monday, as gasoline demand remained sluggish and oil backed away from the $100-a-barrel milestone. California motorists paid an average of $3.29 for a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline, down 3.8 cents, according to the Energy Department's weekly survey of filling stations. The average U.S. pump price for regular gasoline fell 4.1 cents to $3.

The middlemen who buy and sell fuel on the wholesale market have seen Los Angeles gasoline prices plunge more than 50 cents in the last two weeks. Too bad drivers aren't seeing the full benefit at the pump. On Friday, the most recent trading day, the wholesale gasoline price in Los Angeles hovered around $2.17 a gallon -- a figure roughly equal to a retail price of $2.77 a gallon after taxes and other costs were included.

California drivers got a bit of relief at the pump, but nationwide the average gasoline price edged higher in the last week, the Energy Department said Monday. California's average price for a gallon of self-serve gasoline fell 4.1 cents to $3.107 in the week ended Monday. That was 57 cents higher than at this time last year. The cost for U.S. drivers to fill up at the pump increased, though slightly, for the first time in four weeks, the government said Monday. The national average rose 0.

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.

Sun Valley legal secretary James Eric Freedner got fed up with high gasoline prices. He put his 2003 Toyota Tacoma truck in the garage and switched to a Honda Nighthawk motorcycle for weekday commutes to Beverly Hills. He stopped driving to the beach on weekends and cut back on trips to Hanford and Fresno to check on properties he manages. He began grouping errands into one trip each Saturday.

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.

The gravity-defying price of oil shot through another barrier Monday by briefly touching $103.95 a barrel in New York trading, the highest cost ever for black gold even after adjusting for inflation. Before Monday, the April 1980 price of $38 was the pinnacle, fueled by dramatic Mideast events including the failed rescue of American hostages in Iran. Adjusted for inflation, that $38 is now more than $103.

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.

Gasoline prices continued to set records over the last week, reaching all-time highs across the nation, including California, the Energy Department said Monday. But relief may be on the way, at least temporarily. Also on Monday, oil prices plunged in New York futures trading, pulling back from record levels as investors feared that the financial crisis that forced the sale of Bear Stearns Cos. is a sign of deep economic trouble. If oil prices continue to decline as they did Monday -- falling $4.