A Regular Pain: Pump Prices Back on The Rise
Average cost of a gallon hits $2.49
By CORY LOPEZ
Updated 3:00 PM EST, Mon, Jun 1, 2009
Just in time for the summer driving season: The return of rising gas prices.
The cost of a gallon of regular jumped 19 cents to $2.49 over the past two weeks, according to the national Lundberg Survey released Sunday. That brought the average cost of gas nationwide hit $2.49 per gallon, said analyst Trilby Lundberg.
The latest figure is an increase of 44 cents per gallon from just five weeks ago, and 54 cents over the past 10 weeks. Most of the rise has occurred during May, according to the survey of 5,000 gas stations across the nation.
But despite this recent spike in prices, gas costs still remain well below last year's levels. The price of gasoline had rocketed to a record peak of more than $4.11 a gallon last July before heading on a steady decline for five months.
The survey found the average price for a gallon of mid-grade to be $2.62, while premium was a bit higher at $2.73.
The lowest gas price in the country was Tucson, where customers pay $2.22 for a gallon of regular. The highest price was in Chicago, where regular gas is $2.76 at the pump.
Though the price of gasoline is already higher than the average $2.23 a gallon that the U.S. Energy Information Administration had projected for the summer, some oil and gas analysts say prices at the pump may soon ease up.
Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, told USA Today that "most of the increase has been taken."
Copyright Associated Press / NBC Philadelphia
First Published: Jun 1, 2009 11:30 AM EST
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