Retail gasoline prices at an all-time post-Labor Day high

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Gasoline prices are at an all-time high for the week following Labor Day and the end of the traditional summer driving season.

The average price of regular gasoline in California was $3.946 a gallon, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report. That was an increase from $3.888 a gallon last week, and it was a whopping 91 cents a gallon higher than the price a year ago.

The latest gasoline prices in the state also topped the previous post-Labor Day high of $3.859 a gallon in September 2008.

Nationally, the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline reached $3.659 a gallon, up 1.2 cents since last week. That was also a record for the week following Labor Day.

Experts warned not to expect much relief in the coming weeks.

‘You’ll see some price drops, particularly after we start to switch over to the winter blend gasolines that are cheaper to make than summer blends, but there is too much demand for refined fuels in the rest of the world for prices to drop very far in the U.S.,’ said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service in New Jersey.

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-- Ronald D. White

Chart: The AAA rolling 12-month averages for a gallon of regular gasoline. Credit: AAA