Gas prices creeping back up

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Gas prices creeping back up Friday, 13 October 2000 17:18 (ET)

Gas prices creeping back up

CHICAGO, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- A combination of cold weather and tensions in the Middle East are causing gasoline prices to increase.

The American Automobile Association Friday reported the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded self-serve gasoline was $1.527, down from the national average of $1.62 per gallon in June, when prices skyrocketed across the United States, reaching more than $2 per gallon in places such as Chicago and Milwaukee.

But Friday's average was up from the $1.48 per gallon average that gas prices dropped to on Aug. 1.

The combination of cold weather across the United States and the violence in Israel that has some oil producing states talking about possible responses make it unlikely prices will fall back in the near future, a AAA analysis of the situation said.

"In previous periods of Middle East unrest -- 1956, 1967 and 1973 -- oil embargoes were imposed against western economies," the analysis reads. "Another oil embargo would throw world oil markets into panic and undermine global economic growth."

The Wall Street Journal reported gasoline prices have increased 9.3 percent during September and a survey by WBBM-AM, Chicago, indicates prices increased 12 cents in some areas between Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.

Across the United States, gas prices ranged from a low of $1.3835 per gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in Ohio to a high of $1.9396 per gallon in Hawaii. On the continental United States, the high was $1.8508 per gallon in California.

In Illinois, the average price on Friday was listed as $1.4792 per gallon. But Chicago Department of Consumer Services noted inspections of 178 gasoline stations in the city showed significant increases. Friday's Chicago metro area average was $1.4947, down from the Oct. 10 average of $1.60. -- Copyright 2000 by United Press International. All rights reserved.

http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=127599

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), October 14, 2000


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