Retail gasoline remains at record mid-January levels
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Gasoline pump prices continued their slow creep higher over the last week while oil prices drifted lower in spite of higher demand in China and other places overseas.
Nationally, the average price of a gallon of retail gasoline moved up 1.5 cents to $3.104, the highest ever for this time of year, according to the Energy Department’s weekly telephone survey of filling stations around the U.S. The next highest price for this week of a new year was the $3.017 a gallon, recorded in 2008.
In California, the news for motorists was equally grim. The average price of a gallon of regular here climbed 1.7 cents to $3.349. That also was a record for this time of year, with 2008 representing the only time that came relatively close, when the average in California was $3.226 a gallon.
Meanwhile, crude oil futures for February delivery fell 16 cents to settle at $91.38 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
-- Ronald D. White
