The rise in gasoline prices, that started last fall, may have slowed but it hasn't stopped. The price of fuel has risen another two cents a gallon in the last seven days.
The national average price of self-serve regular today is $3.117a gallon, up from $3.095 last Friday, according to AAA's Fuel Gauge Survey. The average price of diesel fuel has taken a sharp jump, rising to $3.413 a gallon, up from $3.359 last week.
Prices have been rising on rising demand and tightening supplies, through the latest data from the government shows suppliers have been busy lately. In its weekly report, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said supplies of both crude oil and refined gasoline rose the previous week.
Supplies grow in last week
Crude oil stockpiles rose by 2.6 million barrels while gasoline supplies increased by 4.4 million barrels -- an increase of two percent. Oil prices, however, have remained just below $90 a barrel and OPEC made it clear this week it has no plans to increase production to bring down prices.
Andrew Delmege, AAA's manager of regulatory affairs, says other parts of the EIA report discussed the outlook for gas prices, and it's not good news for consumers.
"The report projects the national average price of gasoline in 2011 to be $3.17 per gallon, with a peak monthly average of $3.27 in July," Delmege said. "The report does leave open the possibility that U.S. retail prices could spike this summer, assigning a 25 percent probability that prices could exceed $3.50 per gallon June-September of 2011, and an 8-10 percent chance that we could exceed $4 per gallon August-September."
The states with the most expensive gasoline today are:
- Hawaii ($3.699)
- Alaska ($3.591)
- California ($3.361)
- New York ($3.366)
- Connecticut ($3.328)
- Washington ($3.252)
- Illinois ($3.227)
- Oregon ($3.221)
- Vermont ($3.215)
- Maine ($3.206)
The states with the least expensive gasoline today are:
- Wyoming ($2.857)
- Idaho ($2.939)
- Colorado ($2.946)
- South Carolina ($2.951)
- Missouri ($2.952)
- Texas ($2.968)
- Mississippi ($2.969)
- Tennessee ($2.976)
- Oklahoma ($2.994)
- Arkansas ($2.996)
