The average price for regular gasoline at U.S. pumps rose 20.32 cents a gallon in the past two weeks to $3.795 a gallon, according to Lundberg Survey Inc.
The survey covers the period ended Friday and is based on information obtained at about 2,500 stations by the Camarillo, California-based company. The average has jumped 53.71 cents this year and is 10.33 cents above a year earlier.
“Although this is a steep rise, it’s not as steep as the price rise during the prior two weeks,” Trilby Lundberg, president of Lundberg Survey, said in a telephone interview. “There’s reason to expect the price rise will not continue at this pace and may even end soon because crude oil prices are down and refiners are starting to cut wholesale prices to their marketing and retail customers.”
The highest price in the lower 48 U.S. states among the markets surveyed was in Los Angeles, where the average was $4.29 a gallon, Lundberg said. The lowest price was in Billings, Montana, where customers paid an average of $3.23 a gallon.
Regular gasoline on Long Island, New York, averaged $4.01 a gallon, according to Lundberg.
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