UNDATED - The blackout, continued unrest in Iraq, and a broken pipeline in Arizona have led to a big price jump at the gas pump.
But analyst Trilby Lundberg says with those crises over, gas prices should fall back. However, other analysts say they could rise another nickel a gallon before Labor Day, which is next Monday.
The average retail price for a gallon of gas shot up more than 15 cents nationwide over the past two weeks. It's the biggest two-week jump since the Lundberg Survey began keeping track 50 years ago.
In Gainesville, prices are up 12-to-15 cents per gallon over the past two weeks. Regular unleaded is selling in the range of $1.55 to $1.61 per gallon in most places, with the highest octane gasoline priced at 20 cents more.
The survey of eight-thousand service stations showed the average of all grades of gasoline, including taxes, reached nearly a dollar-75 a gallon on Friday. That's just short of the survey's all-time high weighted average of a dollar-76 set March 21st.
Self-serve regular gasoline showed an average weighted price of a dollar-72 a gallon. Mid-grade gas averaged a dollar-81, and premium a dollar-90.
Lundberg blames the recent blackout, which caused refineries in the East to shut down temporarily. That and the Arizona pipeline break disrupted supplies.
(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)
Friday
May 3rd, 2024
2:29AM
