US gasoline price up 11.24 cents in latest survey

www.forbes.com Reuters, 02.09.03, 6:10 PM ET NEW YORK, Feb 9 (Reuters) - U.S. average retail gasoline prices made their biggest jump in 11 months during the past two weeks, as crude prices hit 26-month highs on fears that war in Iraq could upset Middle East oil supplies, according to a nationwide survey on Sunday. The national average for self-serve regular unleaded gas shot up 11.24 cents to $1.5975 a gallon in the two weeks ended Feb. 7, according to the Lundberg survey of 8,000 gas stations. New York crude oil futures jumped above $35 a barrel last week on concerns an attack on Iraq, the world's No. 8 oil exporter, could come before a strike ends in Venezuela, leaving supplies dangerously thin during the U.S. winter. "On top of the war premium already built into crude oil prices, the Venezuelan oil strike of Dec. 2 removed oil from world supply," said Trilby Lundberg, editor of the survey. "Also since then, war jitters have become war preparations." The U.S. Energy Information Administration said Friday the average price for U.S. crude oil is expected to stay above $30 a barrel this year, potentially hindering an economy struggling to rebound from recession. Fears of a shortfall in gasoline supplies ahead of the summer vacation driving season are rising as refineries in Venezuela, normally a big gasoline supplier to the United States, remain well below capacity because of the strike. Low supplies sent U.S. heating oil futures skyrocketing to $1.11 a gallon on Friday, a level not seen since December 1979, after rising 20 percent in the last week.