Gas Prices Level Off After Huge Run-Up

The good news for motorists this week is gasoline prices have stopped going up. The bad news, of course, is they are at the highest point in three years after weeks of rapid increases.

The average price of self-serve regular gas today is $3.540 a gallon, about the same price as seven days ago, according to AAA's Fuel Gauge Survey. But prices are 41 cents a gallon higher than they were a month ago and 75 cents a gallon higher than the price a year ago.

Diesel fuel prices, meanwhile, are closing in on the $4 a gallon mark, with the average price $3.929, about a penny higher than seven days ago.

Gasoline prices are only now beginning to slow down, reflecting this week’s sharp drop in oil prices, in the wake of Japan’s massive earthquake and tsunami. Energy analysts expect Japan’s oil imports will drop sharply until it begins to recover from the disaster.

However, oil prices rose back above the $100 mark early Friday after the United Nations decided to intervene in Libya’s civil war. Because of the ongoing uncertainty in that part of the world, the U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts the national price of gasoline will hit $3.70 a gallon this summer and could cross the $4 mark by the fall.

At least one state, Hawaii, already has an average gas price above $4 a gallon and another, Alaska, is not far behind.

The states with the most expensive gasoline today are:

• Hawaii ($4.073)
• Alaska ($3.946)
• California ($3.966)
• New York ($3.749)
• Connecticut ($3.744)
• Washington ($3.684)
• Oregon ($3.669)
• Illinois ($3.622)
• Vermont ($3.603)
• Maine ($3.585)

The states with the least expensive gasoline today are:

• Wyoming ($3.296)
• Colorado ($3.369)
• Missouri ($3.377)
• New Jersey ($3.386)
• Oklahoma ($3.401)
• South Carolina ($3.403)
• Tennessee ($3.406)
• Texas ($3.427)
• Alabama ($3.448)
• Mississippi ($3.449)