Oil Prices

Those slowly swelling pump prices aren't done yet, energy analysts said, as crude oil futures jumped back above $70 a barrel Monday to close near the year's trading high. With the economy showing signs of life, energy costs are responding. Rising oil and fuel prices could damage U.S. and global economies at a particularly delicate time, economists warned.

California's drivers once again are spending more than $3 a gallon on average, the Energy Department said Monday, although analysts expect some relief from rising fuel prices after Labor Day. The average retail price of a gallon of regular gasoline in California climbed 14.4 cents over the last week to a new high for the year of $3.040. That topped the old mark of $3.005 set June 22, according to the Energy Department's weekly survey of filling stations. It was only the second time in 2009 that California prices averaged above $3 a gallon after setting a record of $4.588 in June 2008.

The average retail price of a gallon of regular gasoline edged slightly higher in California over the last week, the Energy Department said Monday. But analysts said it was a last-gasp, late-summer rise that would precede a drop of about 25 cents a gallon in the next few weeks. Prices already have begun dropping nationally, down a penny on average during the last week. Lower prices are on the way even though refineries in California have been running at as little as 70% of production capacity, they said.

Motorists are paying a little less for gasoline in most parts of the country despite the recent increase in oil prices. The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in California fell 1.6 cents to $3.031 while the national average declined by 0.9 of a cent to $2.628 a gallon, according to the Energy Department's weekly survey of filling stations, released Monday. Prices rose only in the Rocky Mountain states, where the average increased half a penny to $2.616 a gallon. Some analysts were sticking to predictions of a slide in prices by sometime in September to $2.75 to $3 a gallon in California and an average of $2.50 to $2.75 a gallon nationally.

The worst may be over for a while for California motorists as average gasoline prices declined for the second time in the last eight weeks, the Energy Department said Monday. That came on a day in which retail gasoline prices fell nationally for the sixth straight week and analysts predicted that oil could plummet to $35 a barrel before the end of the year. The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in California hit $3.14, down 1.3 cents, according to the Energy Information Administration's weekly survey of filling stations.

NEW YORK -- Stocks are extending recent gains at the start of a busy week of earnings, nudging the Dow Jones industrial average closer to 10,000. Major market indicators rose moderately Monday, including the Dow, which rose as much as 67 points to hit a new 2009 high of 9,931. That's just 69 points away from 10,000, a level not seen in a year. Both the Standard & Poor's 500 and the Nasdaq composite indexes rose for the sixth day in a row. Sharp gains in energy and material stocks drove the broader market higher, as the dollar weakened and oil prices spiked above $73 a barrel.

Gasoline prices were down this week, but behind the scenes some economists are worried that a jump in the price of crude oil could slow the recovery. Average pump prices in California fell for the fourth straight week, according to the Energy Department's weekly survey of filling stations. But with oil futures inching toward $75 a barrel, analysts said the retail gasoline declines may be very short-lived. Oil futures have bounced between $65 and $75 a barrel for several months, but now it looks as though prices may soon go higher.

Until Monday, pump price expert Fred Rozell figured that California gasoline was headed down to $2.85 a gallon or lower. But that was before crude oil futures rose $1.08, or 1.3%, to settle at $79.61 -- their highest close in more than a year. Now Rozell says all bets are off in spite of several fundamentals, such as the facts that oil supplies are plentiful, demand remains weak and refiners have slashed production because motorists aren't driving enough to allow gasoline makers much of a profit.

Its production already bolstered by the biggest oil discovery in California in the last 35 years, Occidental Petroleum today announced a third-quarter net income of $927 million, or $1.14 per diluted share, based on overall sales of just over $4.1 billion. The results were far removed from the same quarter a year ago, when oil prices were still drifting down from a record trading-day high of more than $147 a barrel in July 2008. But the company did improve on its second quarter of 2009 results.

Sempra Energy, owner of the largest U.S. natural-gas utility, said fourth-quarter profit rose 10% after fuel costs dropped and traders bet correctly on a record drop in oil prices. Net income increased to $319 million, or $1.30 a share, from $289 million, or $1.10, a year earlier, San Diego-based Sempra said. Per-share profit was 38 cents higher than the average of analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Revenue dropped 26% to $2.29 billion, Sempra said. Profit from the company's San Diego Gas & Electric unit jumped 72%, and earnings from wholesale power sales climbed 50% to $60 million on lower tax costs.