Average pump price soars to $3.069/gal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The average U.S. weekly

retail gasoline price soared to a record $3.069 cents per

gallon, up 45.9 cents from last week, due to the impact of

Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. Energy Information
Administration

said on Tuesday.

The new weekly average is close to the inflation-adjusted

high of $3.12 a gallon in March 1981.

The EIA surveys U.S. gasoline stations each week to compile

an average nationwide pump price. Last week, the average
was

$2.61 per gallon.

One year ago, the national average was $1.22 per gallon

lower, according to the EIA.

On a regional basis, the Central Atlantic states on the

U.S. East Coast had the highest average pump price of $3.29
a

gallon, according to the EIA weekly survey. Usually, the
U.S.

West Coast region has the highest retail average price but
it

weighed in with an average $3.025 per gallon in the latest

report.

Crude oil prices are typically responsible for roughly half

the cost of gasoline. Soon after Katrina slammed into
Louisiana

and Mississippi one week ago, the U.S. crude oil price set
a

record high of $70.85 a barrel. Crude prices eased to
$65.96 a

barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday.