March 9, 2000

Average price of gas tops $1.50 for the first time, survey finds

By Raad Cawthon

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER CHICAGO - Amid warnings from experts of $2-a-gallon gasoline by summertime, the average price of regular unleaded gas at self-service pumps in the United States has risen above $1.50 per gallon for the first time, according to a nationwide survey.

"We are seeing the most expensive retail prices ever," said Ben Rockwell, editor-in-chief of Oil Price Information Service, a Lakewood, N.J., company that surveys almost 100,000 gasoline retailers nationwide.

The latest survey by Rockwell's service, released yesterday, pegs the average, per-gallon price of regular unleaded at $1.58 per gallon nationwide.

A year ago the same gas sold for an average of 97.5 cents per gallon.

"Gas prices have increased 10 to 12 cents in the last days. And they are going higher," Rockwell said. "You are not going to see any relief this summer."

Already, retailers in some highly taxed areas of New York are reporting prices above $2 per gallon for premium.

Rockwell, echoing other industry watchers, said he expected the price of regular to surpass $2 in much of the country, possibly before summer.

One reason for the increase is a decline in oil production by OPEC nations beginning early last year. That decline, spurred by Venezuela and backed primarily by Mexico and Saudi Arabia, has decreased worldwide supplies and driven the per-barrel price of crude oil to about $34, an increase of more than $10 from a year ago.

The regions hardest hit by gas price increases have been the West Coast, traditionally an area of high gas prices, and the Great Lakes, which now has the highest average prices of any region, largely because of high taxes on gas in Michigan and Illinois.

Mid-Atlantic states, including Pennsylvania, have not seen prices rise quite as quickly. The average price in the Mid-Atlantic is slightly over $1.48 for a gallon of self-service, regular gas.

The average price in the Philadelphia area is just under $1.49.

Contrast that to Chicago, where taxes totaling 56 cents per gallon have driven the average for a gallon of regular to $1.60, up more than 40 cents from last summer. Some stations here are selling regular gas for more than $1.70.

The numbers provided by Rockwell's survey are considered accurate within the petroleum industry, said Steven Poruban, a staff writer at Gas&Oil Journal, a trade publication in Houston.

It is also "pretty well understood" in the industry, Poruban said, that that the national average has now surpassed $1.50 - in his words, the "highest average retail price" for gas in U.S. history.

http://www.phillynews.com/inquirer/2000/Mar/09/national/GAS09.htm

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), March 09, 2000

Answers

Was in Hilo, Hawaii today, and gas was $2.01.99. First time I've seen it over $2.

-- Margo (margos@bigisland.com), March 10, 2000.