- NEW YORK (Reuters)
- U.S. average retail gasoline prices made an unprecedented jump over the
last two weeks, spurred by a shortage of gasoline due to power outages
at refineries and the temporary shutdown of a pipeline in Arizona, according
to a nationwide survey released on Sunday.
-
- The national average price for self-serve regular unleaded
gas rose 15.53 cents to $1.7191 a gallon in the two weeks ended Aug. 22,
according to the Lundberg survey of 8,000 gas stations.
-
- The jump from an average $1.5638 price for the two-week
period ended Aug. 8 was the biggest increase recorded in the 50-year history
of the survey, said Trilby Lundberg, its editor.
-
- "We do not expect the (high) prices will last long,"
said Lundberg, who forecast a drop in prices "very quickly."
-
- She attributed the price spike to the power outage that
hit parts of the central and northeastern United States on Aug. 14, interrupting
production at some refineries. The closure of a gas pipeline from Tucson
to Phoenix, Arizona, on Aug. 8 also restricted supply, Lundberg said. That
pipeline, operated by Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, restarted on Sunday.
-
- The most expensive gasoline was found in Phoenix, Arizona,
at $2.1425 a gallon, while the cheapest was in Charleston, South Carolina,
at $1.4920 a gallon, according to the survey.
|
