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Gas Prices Ease but Remain at Record Levels for Holiday

Cheapest Gas in the USA: New Jersey

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 25, 2007

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The price of a gallon of regular gasoline sits at an all-time record high as Americans head out for the Memorial Day weekend but the daily increase in prices seems to have eased if not stopped.

The national average price for regular unleaded gasoline is $3.23 a gallon. That is 37 cents higher than it was a month ago when a gallon cost $2.86, according to AAA, of Heathrow, Florida.

The average price of mid-grade unleaded and premium unleaded gasoline is also up with drivers paying $3.42 a gallon for mid-grade and $3.55 a gallon for premium.

Before this recent run of record-high gas prices, the highest price ever recorded in current dollars was $3.06 in the AAA survey, which was set September 4 and 5, 2005, following Hurricane Katrina.

The only other time that the price rose above $3 a gallon in the AAA survey was a 19-day stretch in late July and August of 2006, after Israel's invasion of Lebanon sent crude prices higher.

This current spike in prices is the longest streak on record with gas above $3 a gallon.

Diesel prices remained much lower than the high set in 2005. The national average price is $2.92 a gallon, compared with the record $3.24 a gallon on October 24, 2005.

Low gasoline inventories have been blamed for the high prices, with outages continuing to plague U.S. refiners.

Drivers in Bridgeport, California are still seeing the highest prices in the country, at $4.09 a gallon. At $2.69 a gallon, drivers in Sherman, Mississippi are paying the lowest prices across the U.S.

New Jersey remains the only state with an average price below $3. The average price in the Garden State is to $2.96.

Consumers continue to demonstrate resilience despite gasoline prices and are not expecting economic doom to follow, according to a new survey.

The lack of concern stems from expectations that gasoline prices will rise at a slower pace over the next five years than they have since the beginning of 2006, according to a survey from Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers.

Here is a look at some gasoline prices from around the country in the weekly ConsumerAffairs.com Gas Price Round Up.

New Jersey: Drivers in the Garden State are enjoying the nation's lowest gas prices, just in time for the holiday weekend.

The low pump prices are due in part to lower taxes. An American Petroleum Institute report found in March that people in New Jersey pay about 30 cents a gallon in state and federal taxes. That's the third lowest rate in the country. New Jersey motorists also benefit from in-state oil refineries.

Texas: Texans were paying record-high average retail gasoline prices this week, according to the weekly AAA Texas gasoline price survey.

The survey found that the average price of regular-grade gasoline rose 13 cents to $3.08 per gallon, exceeding the record set in early September 2005 following Hurricane Rita. The national average rose 11 cents to a record $3.23 per gallon.

"Pump prices set new record highs just about everyday this week," said AAA Texas spokeswoman Rose Rougeau. "Refiners are stressed, supplies are tight, and demand continues as AAA projects travel this holiday to be about the same as last year when fuel prices were nearly 30 cents a gallon lower."

The most expensive gasoline in any of the 11 Texas cities surveyed was found in Amarillo and El Paso where regular-grade averaged $3.28 per gallon, a 7-cent increase in Amarillo and 11 cents higher in El Paso.

The cheapest gas was found in San Antonio, where it averaged $2.99 per gallon, 13 cents more than last week.

California: Southern California gas prices continued to fall for a second straight week after reaching all-time records and are now within a nickel of last year's levels in most regions, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California's Weekend Gas Watch.

The average price of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area is $3.42, which is 3.9 cents cheaper than last week, 11 cents higher than last month, and 4 cents above last year.

In San Diego, the price is $3.42, which is 4.3 cents below last week's price, 7.5 cents above last month, and 1 cent higher than last year. On the Central Coast, the average price is $3.58, down 1.1 cents from last week, 14 cents above last month, and 10 cents higher than last year.

In the Inland Empire, the average price is $3.42, 4.5 cents below last week, 8 cents higher than last month, and one-tenth of a cent higher than last year.

"This Memorial Day holiday will be the most expensive holiday weekend ever for gas fill-ups in the Southland, both in terms of real and inflation-adjusted price," said Auto Club spokesperson Jeffrey Spring. "But even as high as Southern California's prices are, they are no longer the most expensive in the country.

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