In its price survey Tuesday, the auto club found the average price of regular unleaded gas in Stockton was $3.05 a gallon, up 22 cents from its previous survey on Sept. 11. Petroleum analysts blame high-priced crude oil for the unseasonable rise in gasoline prices, with summer travel and harvest demand long past. The most expensive average gas price in the California communities where AAA monitors fuel costs is in Tahoe City, where regular unleaded sells for $3.29 per gallon. The lowest price among Northern California cities tracked by AAA is in Chico, where gas costs an average of $2.97 per gallon. Also on Tuesday, the price for a barrel of crude oil rose 3 percent -- a record jump to $87.61 -- sparking predictions that motorists would see sharply higher gasoline prices by Thanksgiving — and fears that $100-a-barrel oil is no longer such a distant prospect. According to the New York Times, oil traders, discussing the latest rise, cited a potential conflict on the border between Turkey and Iraq that could heighten Middle East tensions and possibly affect oil supplies from the region. The New York Times contributed to this story.
Thursday, 18 October 2007 12:12
Gasoline Prices Up Again
After a brief reprieve from gas prices over $3
per gallon, prices at the pump have crept back up 20 cents a gallon over the
past month and now top the $3 mark in most communities in Northern
California, AAA reported Tuesday. Statewide, the average cost is
$3.07 for a gallon of regular unleaded fuel. In TSPN’s informal survey of gas
stations in the Jackson,
Martell, Sutter Hill area, most offered regular unleaded at about the state
average price. "Remember the sticker shock you had at the gas pump when
prices skyrocketed after Hurricane Katrina? Statewide, we're paying similar
prices now," said Sean Comey, spokesman for AAA of Northern California.
