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Gas Prices Spike Above $3 for Weekend Driving

Midwest Hit Hard by Refinery Outages

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

July 13, 2007

Prices are rising fastest in the Midwest because of outages at two major refineries in the region. Indications that one of the refineries will soon recover lost capacity are leading to a decline in gasoline futures, suggesting the price spike may be short-lived.

Consumers are now paying an average of $3.05 a gallon for regular unleaded gasoline, almost exactly the same price as one month ago, according to AAA, of Heathrow, Florida.

One year ago regular gasoline sold for $2.96 a gallon.

Mid-grade unleaded gasoline averages $3.23 a gallon and premium unleaded is selling for an average of $3.35 a gallon.

Both prices are a penny below their averages if one month ago today.

Drivers in Beaver Island, Michigan are paying the highest prices in the country at $3.92 a gallon. At $2.57 a gallon, drivers in Allentown, Pennsylvania are seeing the lowest pump prices.

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

Texas: Retail gasoline prices across Texas rebounded this week after falling for six weeks in a row, according to the AAA Texas weekly price survey.

The survey reports that regular-grade gasoline averaged $2.90 per gallon at Texas pumps this week, 5 cents more than last week.

The most expensive gas in the Texas was found in Amarillo, where regular-grade skyrocketed by nearly 22 cents to an average of $3.30 per gallon.

The cheapest gas was in Houston, where the price rose 3 cents to $2.83 per gallon, according to the survey.

California: Southern California gas prices began heading up slightly in the past few days, but they are still below last week's prices in most areas of the Southland, 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 $3.10, which is 1.5 cents cheaper than last week, 19 cents below last month, and 19 cents under last year.

In San Diego, the price is $3.12, which is two-tenths of a cent below last week's price, 15 cents less than last month, and 19 cents cheaper than last year.

On the Central Coast, the average price is $3.31, down 2.7 cents from last week, 15.5 cents under last month, and 12 cents below last year.

In the Inland Empire, the average price is $3.09, three-tenths of a cent higher than last week, 17 cents under than last month, and 23 cents cheaper than last year.

"After nine weeks of decreases, many areas of Southern California are now experiencing a slight uptick in gas prices," said Auto Club spokesperson Carol Thorp.

"That is perhaps not surprising considering that 14 other states now have higher gas price averages than California's, due to refinery problems in the Midwest. Typically, California has the most expensive or second most-expensive gasoline in the country," she said.

Florida: Gas prices decreased slightly during the last week but over the last 24 hours were up as much as 8 cents and are expected to continue to rise again this week, according to the latest price brief from AAA.

"A 10-month high in crude oil prices, a refinery outage in Kansas and continued low U.S. refinery output -- 90 percent according to the recent U.S. Department of Energy report -- will place upward pressure on retail gasoline prices this week," said Randy Bly, of AAA Auto Club South.

Florida gas prices continue to track below the national average. A gallon of regular unleaded gasoline averaged $2.90 for most of the week then jumped to $2.98 a gallon.

The hike is being blamed on flooding in the Midwest, and according to AAA, drivers will pay an average of 2 cents more in Central Florida.

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