Gas Dips for Second Week

WASHINGTON -- U.S. retail gasoline prices fell for the second week in a row, declining an average 1.2 cents a gallon over the last week to $1.39, the Energy Department said yesterday.

The latest pump price is up 1.9 cents from a year ago, based on a weekly survey of more than 800 convenience stores by the department's Energy Information Administration. The national price for cleaner-burning reformulated gasoline, which is sold at about one-third of the gas stations in cities and smoggier areas, was up 0.7 cent at $1.47 a gallon, EIA said.

The West Coast had the most expensive regular unleaded gasoline, with the average price in the region up 0.9 cents at $1.54 a gallon. The Gulf Coast states had the cheapest fuel, although the average price was up 0.2 cents at $1.31 a gallon.

San Francisco maintained its top spot among major cities in fuel costs, with the price up 1.8 cents at $1.68 a gallon. Houston had the best deal at the pump, where gasoline was down 0.2 cents at $1.31 a gallon.

The report also showed gasoline prices up 3.4 cents in Los Angeles at $1.56, down 4.3 cents in Chicago at $1.50, up 1.3 cents in New York City at $1.47 and down 0.7 cents in Denver at $1.47. The biggest year-on-year change in city pump prices was in Denver, where gasoline costs were up 12 cents a gallon.

The EIA has forecast pump prices to peak at around $1.43 later this summer, well below last year's record weekly price of $1.70 a gallon.

Separately, the nationwide price for diesel fuel was up a slight 0.1 cents at $1.30 a gallon, down 4.1 cents from last year.

Truckers in the mid-Atlantic states paid the most for diesel fuel at $1.41 a gallon, up a penny from the prior week. The lower Atlantic states had the cheapest diesel at $1.26 a gallon, unchanged from the previous week.
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