By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com
July 2, 2010
Motorists traveling over the Independence Day holiday should find stable fuel prices. The average price of self-serve regular gas today is $2.75 a gallon, according to AAA.
That's a half-cent less than last Friday and up less than three cents from a month ago. It's only 12 cents more than the average price last year.
The price of diesel fuel today is $2.982 a gallon, down a fraction of a cent from last week.
Fuel prices have remained stable during the early part of the summer as economists have revised downward their projections of growth in the economy. Motorists have yet to see any fallout at the pump from the Gulf oil spill.
"Despite the ongoing attention of the spill and cleanup efforts, it has not had any impact on gas prices in the short term," said Andrew Delmege, AAA's manager of regulatory affairs. The U.S. consumes as much as 20 million barrels per day but only 1.75 million come from the Gulf.
U.S. consumption is not even putting a dent in supply at this point. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports gasoline supplies rose by 537,000 barrels last week, mainly due to weak demand. The result for consumers is stable prices at the pump.
The states with the most expensive gasoline today are:
Alaska ($3.495)
Hawaii ($3.452)
California ($3.152)
Washington ($3.012)
Nevada ($2.942)
Oregon ($2.919)
New York ($2.908)
Idaho ($2.900)
Connecticut ($2.893)
Utah ($2.884)
The states with the least expensive gasoline today are:
South Carolina ($2.515)
Missouri ($2.537)
Alabama ($2.585
Tennessee ($2.589)
Virginia ($2.608)
Texas ($2.608)
New Jersey ($2.609)
Louisiana ($2.630)
Georgia ($2.635)
North Carolina ($2.639)
