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Gas Prices Subside 2.5 Cents

Feds Fix Miscalculation from Previous Week

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 31, 2006

• Gas Prices Slide 8 Percent from Record • Gas Prices Creep Down • Oil Price Trend May Be Good News For Consumers • Gasoline Drops Below $3.90 a Gallon • Gas Prices Pull Back Slowly • Oil Prices Fall As Storm Misses Rigs • Latest Gas Price Round-Up • 'Run Your Car On Water' Scheme Could Leave Consumers All Wet • Unregulated Energy Trading Blamed for Much of Gas Price Gusher • Airlines Join Effort To Limit Oil Speculators • Questions Raised about MyGallons.com • 'Hypermiling' Is Dangerous, Says AAA • Struggling Drivers Blame Washington for High Gas Prices • What’s Really Fueling Those Sky-High Oil Prices • Credit Card Fees at the Pump are a 'Hidden Tax' on Consumers • Survey: 3 Out of 4 Angry About High Gas Prices • $2 A Gallon Gas Possible, Analysts Tell Congress • Speculators Buy More Oil Contracts Than Oil Companies • Saudis to Pump More Oil • Limiting Oil Speculators Gains Ground • Congress To Probe Oil Price Spike • Oil Market 'Saturated,' Iran Claims • Feds See No Relief from High Gas Prices • High Gas Prices Could Mean Lower Insurance Rates • High Gas Prices Good For Kia, Honda • Gas Prices Rip Past $4 and Keep Climbing • Administration, OPEC See Different Causes Of Oil Surge • Feds Probing Possible Oil Market Manipulation • Beware of Fuel Sippers Sipping High-Test • Retailers Respond to High Gas Prices with Discounts, Promotions • Rushing Into a Smaller Car Too Soon May Not Save Money • Hybrid Sales and Prices Climb in Lockstep with Gas Prices • Truckers Bemoan Burden of High Diesel Costs • Gas Prices Biting into Worker Productivity • Consumers Warned About Gas-Saving Schemes • Is Tony Soprano Controlling Gas Prices? • Oil & Gas: The New Bubble • Critics: New Federal Gas Mileage Standard Falls Short • Consumers Feeling Pain of Skyrocketing Gas Prices • New Gas Price Record Forecasts Expensive Summer Driving Season --- • More ...

Retail gasoline prices fell 2.5 cents over the last week to $2.87 a gallon and that is the lowest level in six weeks. The decline would be even sharper except for a mistake in calculating gas prices the week before.

Even so, the pump price for regular unleaded gasoline is still 77 cents higher than a year ago, according to the Energy Information Administration's weekly survey of service stations.

The agency revised upward the prior week's national price by almost a penny after receiving incorrect fuel cost information from stations in Los Angeles.

The EIA numbers and numbers reported by AAA differed by more than 15 cents last week. “We got bad numbers reported to us," an EIA spokesman said.

With the correct data in hand, the government revised up the previous week's average price for gasoline in Los Angeles by 15.3 cents, and that pushed up the national average price.

The new survey was delayed in order to incorporate the correct information. This week the average pump price in Los Angeles fell 4.1 cents to $3.34 a gallon. That is still the highest price for gasoline in any city.

The EIA's weekly survey reflects prices at about 800 stations nationwide, including 128 on the West Coast. The agency would not disclose how many L.A. stations are surveyed.

The West Coast suffers from the highest gasoline prices with an average $3.21 a gallon, down 4.4 cents for the week.

The Gulf Coast enjoys the cheapest gasoline at $2.74 a gallon. The Gulf coast average is down 4.6 cents.

U.S. oil companies promise they are doing their best to limit possible gasoline supply disruptions during the 2006 hurricane season.

Government and industry officials warned that consumers should not fill up their cars and trucks with gasoline right before the next storm hits in order to avoid the high fuel prices that would likely follow, because the distribution system could not handle the spike in gasoline demand.

Increased gasoline imports will help make up the loss from storm-related fuel supply disruptions, according to the head of the American Petroleum Institute.

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