| CAMARILLO, California (AP) -- Gasoline
prices have remained steady over the past two weeks, with no immediate impact from the decision to tap 30 million barrels of oil from emergency
stockpiles, an analyst said Sunday.
The Lundberg Survey of
10,000 stations nationwide has
found that the average price of all grades, plus taxes,
was $3.89 per gallon Friday. It was a tenth of a cent per gallon
lower than prices the survey found two weeks ago, but 28 cents
per gallon higher than for the same period a year ago.
Rising energy costs are
becoming an issue in the presidential campaign as winter
heating bills are expected to be as much as 50 percent higher
than last year's. Crude oil is selling for more than $120 per barrel,
an all time high.
There has
been an increase in demand
and several rises in production costs, as states around
the country pass tougher "clean air" rules.
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Thirty million barrels of oil is "a drop in the bucket" compared
to U.S. demand, Lundberg said, but the balance between supply
and demand is so fine that "even small volumes can tip the scales"
in terms of price.
The 590-million-barrel Strategic
Oil Reserve was set up as insurance against interruption of oil supplies after the 1973
Arab oil embargo caused shortages at the gasoline pumps. Except
for two practice draw-downs, its only previous use was during
the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
The national weighted average price
of gasoline, including taxes, at self-serve pumps Friday was $3.88 for regular, $3.99 for mid-grade
and $4.23 for premium.
"I don't believe that either political
party has particularly distinguished
itself on energy strategy for a long, long time, going back decades
there's a little bit of finger-pointing that
can go in both directions. |
