US Gas Prices Increase Steeply

U.S gas prices keep climbing and the last two weeks have seen a large increase in price. Since just two weeks ago to cost of one gallon of self pumped gasoline has risen by .18 cents. This brings the average price of gas in the United States to $2.78 a gallon for regular gas.

The new gas price average comes from a nationwide survey that was released yesterday. The survey, called the Lundberg Survey, questioned 7,000 service stations around the U.S. The survey also revealed that the cost of premium gasoline has risen to an average of $3 per gallon. Midgrade gas prices came in at an average of $2.89 a gallon.

The cheapest gas prices for regular gas in the U.S. were found in Charleston, South Carolina where the price was $2.54 a gallon. The city with this highest gas prices in the U.S is San Francisco where a gallon of regular gas costs $3.30.

Washington State had one of the highest gas price averages with all varieties of gas costing at least $3 a gallon. However, even though Washington State has some of the highest current gas prices these prices was significantly lower than they were just under one year ago in the state, when the average price of gas was .15 cents more per gallon than it is now. The average price per gallon in Washington State for each gas type came in as follows: $ 3.03 for regular unleaded, $3.14 for midgrade and $3.29 for premium.

The gas prices represented in this recent survey are the highest prices in the U.S. since the beginning of September 2006.

According to the publisher of the survey, Trilby Lundberg, this increase in gas price can be attributed to the reduction in "refining capacity due to maintenance at a time of strong gasoline demand."

To go with the rise in U.S gas prices it is also reported that the U.S. stock of gas has fallen for the eight week in a row. As of March 30 the stock amount was at 205.2 million barrels. According to the Energy Department this is the lowest level of gas stock in the U.S. for three months.

Interestingly the lowers refining combined with the lower stock and higher prices is also combined with an increase of 4.7 percent in the demand for gas. The daily demand for gas is said to be 9.5 million gallons each day. It is possible that this demand will increase as previous trends show that the peak gas demands time occur between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Sources
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003658345_gasprice09.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/08/business/main2661892.shtml
http://www.mn1.com/members/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=13805