Hawaii tops national gas prices
Associated Press
CAMARILLO, Calif. — Honolulu posted the most expensive gasoline nationwide this week, according to the Lundberg Survey.
Across the country, rising crude oil prices raised the average cost of gasoline by nearly four cents per gallon in the past two weeks, according to the Camarillo, Calif.-based petroleum research company.
"Higher wholesale gasoline price rises have not yet been entirely passed through to the retail level, and that could increase pressure for another small boost in pump prices," analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday.
Lundberg's latest survey listed Honolulu's as the most costly gasoline in the nation, with a self-serve regular average of just under $1.96 per gallon.
San Francisco was second highest at about $1.80 per gallon. The cheapest gasoline market was Charleston, S.C., at $1.39 per gallon, Trilby said.
No other Hawaii locations were included in the Lundberg survey, though gasoline prices on the neighbor islands are significantly higher. AAA said a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline averaged $2.18 Sunday in Hilo and $2.31 in Wailuku.
Lundberg's survey of nearly 8,000 service stations on Friday showed an average of all grades of gasoline including taxes was about $1.59, up about 3.9 cents since the previous survey on July 25.
Lundberg said the average was nearly 17 cents cheaper per gallon than this year's high on March 21 of about $1.76. But the Friday average was about 14 cents more than the $1.45 nationwide figure of Aug. 9, 2002.
Lundberg said the decrease in overall gasoline supply may be due to refineries having a "disincentive" to buy crude oil at increased prices.
Crude oil futures prices increased about $2 per barrel during the past two weeks, which is equivalent to about 4 cents in rising prices at the pump, Lundberg said.
Crude oil futures closed at $32.18 per barrel Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
On Friday self-serve regular gasoline averaged about $1.56 per gallon, mid-grade was about $1.66, and premium grade averaged about $1.75.
