US average gas price near $1.46 per gallon

Tuesday, 29 February 2000 0:32 (ET)

US average gas price near $1.46 per gallon By HIL ANDERSON

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- The pump price of gasoline in the United States continues to track steadily higher with the national average closing in on $1.46 per gallon, and near $1.54 per gallon on the West Coast.

Statistics released Monday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed that the price of crude oil, which remained above $30 per barrel Monday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, was continuing to squeeze the consumer.

The EIA said the national average for all grades of gasoline rose to $1.458 per gallon from $1.443 per gallon on Feb. 21. The national average for regular unleaded moved up to $1.421 per gallon from $1.406 the previous Monday.

The average gasoline price on Oct. 1 was $1.304 per gallon.

The West Coast fared worse, although the unique clean-burning gasoline that is required in California traditionally costs several cents more per gallon than gas in other states. The EIA pegged the average gasoline price on the West Coast at $1.537 per gallon with regular averaging $1.494 per gallon.

OPEC nations meet March 27 to decide whether to relax the production cuts that began several months ago when crude was struggling, but signals from the producer nations remained uncertain. The latest indication is that OPEC will agree to increase production, but not by a great amount, and probably not in time to head off further gasoline price increases as demand picks up during the approaching summer driving season.

The oil markets should get some short-term guidance Tuesday when the American Petroleum Institute releases its weekly inventories of crude and refined products such as gasoline and heating oil. A decline in supplies will likely trigger another run-up on NYMEX and the wholesale spot market, while an increase in inventories could cool the markets down.

In the meantime, the ripple effect of the OPEC cuts is being felt in areas other than trucking and agriculture. Teekay Shipping Corporation in the Bahamas reported Monday it had lost $11.6 million for the quarter ending Dec. 31. The loss was not the result of higher prices, Teekay said, but was due to a drop in business for the company's tanker fleet brought on by the OPEC production cuts.

http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=67486

Copyright 2000 by United Press International.

All rights reserved.

-- Jen Bunker (jen@bunkergroup.com), February 29, 2000