US retail gasoline prices hit record $2.61/gal

By Chris Baltimore

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Retail gasoline prices

hit a record nationwide average of $2.61 a gallon last week
as

the effects of high crude oil prices trickled down to the
pump,

the U.S. government said on Monday.

The national average pump price for regular unleaded

gasoline rose 6.2 cents, according to a weekly survey of
more

than 800 service stations by the Energy Information

Administration.

That’s on top of an 18.2-cent increase the previous week,

which was the biggest weekly jump since the agency started

reporting weekly retail prices in August 1990.

Still, when adjusted for inflation, the most expensive U.S.

pump price was $3.12 a gallon in March 1981.

Gasoline prices are about 73 cents per gallon higher than

one year ago, according to EIA records.

Crude oil prices, responsible for half of the cost of a

gallon of gasoline, hit an all-time high of $67.10 a barrel

earlier this month. U.S. crude oil futures for September

delivery came within less than $1 of that record in Monday

trading, driven by global supply concerns.

Gasoline prices are sure to be a hot topic when Congress

returns from its recess next month. The Senate Energy
Committee

has set a September 8 hearing on what’s behind the prices,
and

Democrats have urged the Bush administration to
investigate.

U.S. consumers use about 9 million barrels of gasoline a

day, which translates to about 380 million gallons.

Each penny increase in gasoline prices means that U.S.

consumers pay about $1.39 billion extra at the pump each
year,

according to Senate Energy Committee data.

The government’s weekly retail report showed prices in the

five U.S. regions rose between 4.2 cents and 10.6 cents a

gallon.

The average U.S. pump price was highest on the West Coast,

where costs rose 4.2 cents to $2.711 per gallon.

The Rocky Mountain region had the cheapest gasoline,

increasing 10.6 cents to $2.546 a gallon during the last
week,

EIA said.

Among the 10 major urban areas highlighted by EIA, Houston

pump prices were the cheapest at $2.565 per gallon, up 10.7

cents. San Francisco and Chicago tied for the most
expensive

prices at $2.786.

U.S. truckers saw retail diesel prices rise 21 cents to

an average $2.588 per gallon last week, EIA said. The
average

cost for a gallon of diesel is 71.4 cents per gallon higher

than it was one year ago.

LINKS:

* Oil holds above $65 on supply jitters

* Reuters poll of oil price forecasts

* Reuters top energy news

* NYMEX oil futures prices

* EIA weekly retail prices at

www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/wrgp/mogas_h
ome_page.html