The national average price for diesel fell more than 5 cents for the
week ending Sept. 12, according to the Energy Information Administration. The
average was $2.847 per gallon, down from a record high of $2.898 the previous
week, following Hurricane Katrina.
California
had the highest prices in the 48 contiguous states, with an average of $3.158
per gallon, though even that was down more than 9 cents from the week before.
The rest of the West Coast remained above the $3 mark, at $3.093 per gallon.
The East Coast was on pace with the national average, dropping about 5
cents to $2.849 per gallon. The
Central Atlantic
remained the highest-priced region on the coast at $2.935 per gallon. New
England wasn’t far behind at $2.92 per gallon, while the
Lower
Atlantic
came in at $2.806 per gallon.
The
Midwest
had the lowest average in
the country at $2.782 per gallon. The
Gulf
Coast
was close at $2.797 per gallon,
while the
Rocky
Mountain
region flirted with a high of $2.957
per gallon.
In spite of the general downturn, prices in some areas were still
extremely high. One Shell station in
Hawaii
was selling gasoline for $3.96 per gallon. In some areas, prices were already
above $4 per gallon.
Prices in
Hawaii
have gone up considerably in spite of a wholesale gas price cap – which does
not include diesel – put in place by the state legislature in August. The cap
allows the Public Utilities Commission to set wholesale gasoline prices each
Thursday for the following Monday. The price increase approved last week was 44
cents per gallon.
Meanwhile, prices for light, sweet crude oil jumped slightly Tuesday,
Sept. 13. Midday trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange saw prices rise to
$63.85 per barrel after hitting an intraday low of $63.08 per barrel.
Analysts told Forbes that
easing fears over Tropical Storm Ophelia were the reason for the jump in price.
Investors had been afraid that the storm would crash into the East Coast,
disrupting recovery efforts from Hurricane Katrina.
But on Tuesday, Ophelia was still a tropical storm spinning off the
coast.
