By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.Com
September 24, 2010
Motorists got some relief at the gas pump this week as the price of gas dipped again following a one-week spike caused by a pipeline leak.The national average price of self-serve regular today is $2.710 a gallon, down three cents from last Friday. The price is just one and a half cents higher than it was a month ago.
The average price of diesel fuel is $2.972 a gallon, down a fraction of a cent from last week.
Last week, the continued closure of a major pipeline disrupted the flow of Canadian crude oil to refiners in the Midwest market. The Enbridge pipeline, which carries up to 670,000 barrels of oil per day to Midwest refiners, was initially shut down due to a leak on September 9th. The result was fear of a prolonged supply disruption which sent oil futures as high as $77.19 at the NYMEX closing on Monday.
However, by the middle of the week, prices started to fall on speculation that the Enbridge line would restart much soon. Other factors may soon begin to influence oil and gasoline prices in the future. The Federal Reserve statement this week that it would maintain a policy of easing sent the dollar lower, which could keep gas prices at summer levels for a while.
The states with the most expensive gasoline today are:
• Alaska ($3.502)
• Hawaii ($3.453)
• California ($3.014)
• Washington ($3.006)
• Idaho ($2.978)
• Oregon ($2.934)
• Utah ($2.904)
• Montana ($2.890)
• Illinois ($2.877)
• New York ($2.823)
The states with the least expensive gasoline today are:
• New Jersey ($2.500)
• South Carolina ($2.521)
• Missouri ($2.538)
• Virginia ($2.567)
• Mississippi ($2.564)
• Tennessee ($2.569)
• Alabama ($2.576)
• Texas ($2.566)
• Louisiana ($2.594)
• Georgia ($2.602)
