U.S. gasoline price has highest jump in 10 months

www.forbes.com Reuters, 02.03.03, 5:30 PM ET By Tom Doggett WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The price U.S. drivers pay for gasoline jumped 5.4 cents a gallon, the biggest weekly increase in 10 months, the Energy Department said on Monday. The price for regular unleaded gasoline averaged $1.527 a gallon -- up 37 cents from a year ago and the biggest increase since the last week of March 2002 -- based on a survey of service stations by the department's Energy Information Administration. Gasoline prices have surged with crude as the possibility of war with Iraq has ignited fears of Middle East supply disruptions and as a nationwide strike in Venezuela has sharply curtailed oil shipments from the No. 5 crude exporter. The price of crude accounts for about 40 percent of the cost of a gallon of gasoline. The national price for cleaner-burning reformulated gasoline, which is sold at about one-third of the gas stations in more polluted metropolitan areas, increased 4.1 cents in the last week to $1.585 a gallon, EIA said. The West Coast had the most expensive regular unleaded gasoline over the last week, with the average price in the region up 4 cents to $1.609 a gallon, EIA said. The Gulf Coast states had the cheapest fuel, even though the average price was up 5.8 cents to $1.472 a gallon. Among cities, San Francisco had the top spot in fuel costs, with the price up 3.7 cents to $1.802 a gallon. Denver had the cheapest gasoline, with the price up 3.2 cents to $1.461 a gallon. The report also showed gasoline prices were up 2.8 cents in Los Angeles at $1.629, up 2.8 cents in New York City at $1.579, up 4.8 cents in Chicago at $1.566 and up 6.7 cents in Houston at $1.473. The biggest year-on-year change in city pump prices was in San Francisco, where gasoline costs were up 56 cents a gallon from a year earlier. Separately, the nationwide price for diesel fuel increased 5 cents to $1.542 a gallon, up 40 cents from last year and the highest since December 2000. Truckers in central Atlantic states paid the most for diesel fuel at $1.66 a gallon, up 5 cents from the prior week. The Rocky Mountain states had the cheapest diesel at $1.50 a gallon, up 4.6 cents from the previous week.