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Gasoline Prices Up for Second Week, Heating Oil Down

Posted on: Tuesday, 14 March 2006, 09:00 CST

By Timothy C. Barmann, The Providence Journal, R.I.

Mar. 14--The average price of gasoline in Rhode Island increased four cents a gallon since last week, the second week in a row that the price has gone up.

At the same time, crude oil and gasoline futures rose as well on weather forecasts that predict a colder-than-normal finish to March.

The average price of self-serve regular gas was $2.279 a gallon yesterday, compared with $2.239 a gallon a week earlier, according to the State Energy Office.

The price has gone up 7 cents in the past two weeks. A similar survey yesterday by AAA Southern New England found an average price of $2.269 gallon.

The average price of home heating oil fell by five cents to $2.419 a gallon, according to the State Energy Office.

That was 27 cents a gallon higher than it was a year ago.

Cooler weather for the last two weeks in March was forecast yesterday by MDA EarthSat Energy Weather, Bloomberg Business News reported. The Rockville, Md.-based company said it will be colder than normal throughout the United States from Wednesday to March 22. Cooler temperatures will continue in the East and Central parts of the country through March 27, the company predicted.

That pushed crude oil for April delivery up $1.81 a barrel to $61.77 a barrel at the close of trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The upswing follows a decline of 5.8 percent last week, prompted by a decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to continue pumping oil at its current pace.

Some analysts blamed yesterday's price increase on continuing concerns about Iran and its nuclear energy plans.

The U.N. Security Council is expected to issue a statement this week urging Iran to halt uranium enrichment, Reuters news service reported yesterday. But the statement will stop short of imposing economic sanctions on the country, the agency said.

Oil prices rose despite the unusually high inventory of crude oil in the United States.

Stockpiles rose 6.8 million barrels to 335.1 million barrels for the week that ended March 3, according to the Energy Information Administration, an arm of the U.S. Department of Energy. That is the highest level since May 1999.

Gasoline futures also rose yesterday on the New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday. Gasoline for April delivery increased 5.52 cents to $1.7433 a gallon.

That's 16 percent higher than it was a year ago.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Providence Journal, R.I.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Providence Journal

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