Gasoline prices ease from highs
Reference 2:04 PM PST Friday
Gasoline prices Friday in Sacramento and around California have ebbed slightly from their record highs set this month, according to the latest data from the state's affiliates of the American Automobile Association.
The breathing room in many cases could be measured in tenths of a penny. In Sacramento, the average price recorded by AAA for a gallon of self-serve unleaded was $2.163, down from the high mark of $2.169 set Wednesday. A month ago the average was $2.008, and it was $1.626 a year ago.
For the state as a whole, the average price per gallon was $2.17, AAA reported, barely down from the $2.177 high recorded March 22. Every one of the 25 markets tracked in California showed prices Friday that were down from the record highs set between March 15 and Wednesday.
Gas prices have shot up since December, driven by a variety of factors including fears about the war in Iraq, labor-related supply problems in Nigeria and Venezuela, the shift to summer fuel formulations and changeover in California to a new oxygenating compound used to reduce smog.
Crude oil prices spiked ahead of the start of fighting in the Mideast, but have since declined without a corresponding reduction in retail fuel prices. Officials, including U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, have called for an investigation. Boxer introduced a bill this week to require a federal probe if certain price conditions occur.
San Francisco, as usual, had the highest average prices in the state; Friday's was $2.27, down from a March 19 high of $2.276. San Jose's average price Friday was $2.151, down 2.5 cents from the record of $2.176 set March 15. Oakland was at $2.165, down from the March 18 high of $2.177.
The Chico-Paradise market had the lowest average price among those tracked by AAA, at $2.07 per gallon, down from the record of $2.109 set March 22.
"The annual change-over from winter grade gasoline to summer grade is now complete in California, so the supply stream is once again moving smoothly," says Carol Thorp, a spokeswoman for the Automobile Club of Southern California. "We should see prices continue to edge lower over the next couple of weeks."