Gasoline price dips; Bush seeks more supply

By Tom Doggett

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. retail gasoline prices fell for
the ninth week in a row, the government reported on Monday,
although the rate of decline slowed, and the price remained 24
cents higher than a year ago.

President George W. Bush said high gasoline prices amounted
to a tax on consumers and businesses, and called on Congress to
pass legislation to promote construction of more oil refineries
to boost fuel supplies.

The national price for regular unleaded gasoline declined
just 0.7 cent over the last week to an average $2.15 a gallon,
based on the federal Energy Information Administration’s survey
of service stations.

The much broader Lundberg survey covering 7,000 gas
stations reported that the average gasoline price fell almost
11 cents over the last two weeks to $2.13 a gallon.

The EIA said the pump price has dropped 92 cents since
reaching a record high of $3.07 a gallon in early September
after Hurricane Katrina damaged oil refineries along the Gulf
Coast and disrupted fuel supplies.

Bush, in remarks to workers at a manufacturing plant in
Kernersville, North Carolina, backed legislation to encourage
new refinery construction.

“We realize how dependent and how fragile our
infrastructure is when it comes to gasoline,” Bush said. “In
order to take the pressure off your pocketbook, it seems to
make sense to me that we need to expand the amount of supply of
gasoline,” Bush said.

A new U.S. oil refinery has not been built since the 1970s.

In the EIA’s latest weekly survey, the West Coast had the
most expensive regional gasoline, with the price down 7.1 cents
to $2.32 a gallon. Miami again topped the agency’s survey of
cities, with gasoline down 5.7 cents to $2.39 a gallon.

The Gulf Coast had the cheapest gasoline at $2.08 a gallon,
down 2.1 cents. Among major cities, Houston had the cheapest
fuel, down 4.2 cents to $2.01 a gallon.

The EIA report also showed prices, rounded to the nearest
penny, down 7.7 cents at $2.36 in Los Angeles, down 7.8 cents
at $2.29 in Seattle, up 4.8 cents at $2.23 in Chicago, down 3.5
cents at $2.16 in New York City, up 9.4 cents to $2.12 in
Cleveland and up 0.8 cent at $2.06 in Boston.

Separately, the weekly price for diesel fuel dropped 5.4
cents to $2.43 a gallon, the lowest level in 17 weeks but still
36 cents higher from a year ago, the agency said.

Truckers in the New England region paid the most for diesel
at $2.59 a gallon, down 2.8 cents from last week. The lower
Atlantic states had the cheapest diesel at $2.35 a gallon, down
4 cents.