The U.S. average price for regular gasoline rose for the third week in a row, according to the Energy Information Administration, advancing nearly nine cents to settle at $2.75 per gallon. Despite an increase of more than 16 cents over the past three weeks, the average remains $1.36 per gallon less than the all-time high price set on July 7, 2008. Prices on the West Coast (Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington) increased by nearly seven cents, to $2.97. In California, the average rose six cents to $3.05 per gallon.
      National average diesel prices also increased sharply, moving up eight cents to $2.88 per gallon, 57 cents above the price a year ago. The smallest increase took place on the West Coast, where the price rose six cents (as compared with seven to ten cents in other parts of the country) to $2.97 per gallon. In California, the average went up seven cents to $3.03 per gallon.
     Experts note that the upward price trend for gasoline and diesel fuel has lagged behind crude's 20 percent price-spike over the last few weeks. These increases have been fed by new money coming into the commodities market, along with a stretch of cold weather globally that has extended from China to Europe and the U.S., increasing demand for distillates.
    Financial markets can't ignore the large amounts of surplus fuel in storage both in the U.S. and at crude sources, as OPEC countries store oil in an effort to comply with lower production quotas designed to prop up the per-barrel price. Ongoing sluggish demand makes these efforts less effective, however, and OPEC spokespeople reportedly are pleased with crude prices between $70 and $80 per barrel.
     West Texas crude closed at $82.74 on Tuesday of last week, but slid all week to hover around $78.00 per barrel on Monday.

Chris Nobles
Commercial Fueling
Nella Oil Company