The national average retail price of regular gasoline rose 8.6 cents a gallon to a 15-month high of $2.751 a gallon in the week ended Monday, the Energy Information Administration said.
Retail gasoline prices are the highest since Oct 20, 2008.
Prices have been jumping on the back of a strong oil market where the cost for a barrel has spiked 20 percent in the past month on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Skyrocketing gasoline prices couldn’t come at a worse time for motorists, who will see heating bills jump after the worst cold spell in years.
Oil prices are now about three times what they were a year ago.
Retail gasoline prices have gained 16 cents, or 6.3%, in the past three weeks and are 96.7 cents, or 54.2%, above a year earlier.
Nationwide, prices are 33%, or $1.363 a gallon, below the record $4.114 a gallon hit July 7, 2008.
Prices gained in all regions, led by a 9.2-cent gain on the East Coast. In California, the single-biggest gasoline market in the world’s biggest gasoline consumer, prices topped $3 a gallon for the first time since October 2009.
In December 2009, prices averaged $2.607 a gallon, up 54.5%, or 92 cents a gallon, from a year ago, but less than the $2.65-a-gallon level projected in EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook from Dec. 8. The EIA projected then that regular gasoline would retail at an average of $2.67 a gallon this month.
After crude prices dropped below $69 a barrel in mid-December, the EIA said on Dec. 23 that gasoline prices could hit $2.50 a gallon on a weekly average at some point this winter “without a significant shift in current market conditions.”
The EIA had projected U.S. benchmark crude oil would average $77 a barrel in December, up 87% from a year ago, but prices averaged around $74.60. Before the recent rally, the EIA projected a January average of $76 a barrel. But crude prices have averaged $82.40 a barrel so far in January and retail gasoline has averaged $2.780 a gallon.
The price of crude oil accounts for 69% of the cost of a gallon, the EIA said.
(Source: Wall Street Journal)
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3 Responses
OPEC at it again
americaisover,
Incorrect!!
Oil is traded on the market and the price per barrel is going up but you prably didnt notice that.
The reason according to people who claim to understand these things is the weak dollar. Dollar goes down os it takes more dollars to buy things such as barrels of oil.
As for the falling dollar, look no further than Barack Hussein Obama mmm mmm mmm who is doing his part to ruin the economy with his taxes and spending, none of which EVER causes growth!!
Remember is was your almighty Obama who when gas was over $4 a gallon said that he had no problem with the high price although he would have preferred it to go up more gradual.
You reap what you sow.
Actually I agree with both of you gentlemen. OPEC is at it again but OPEC is not the only ones to blame for this. Barack Milhouse Obama wants to limit and destroy this nation’s ability to refine and extract crude oil along with natural gas and mining coal. He in addition wants to destroy the nuclear energy industry and make it impossible for utilities to produce electricity. He wants to destroy the American dollar.
However, he is induced to do these things by the same potentates who head OPEC. These same potentates fund all of the left wing lobbying groups who want to bring the U.S. to our knees. So, both of you are right.