Gas rises nearly 7 cents

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Gas rises nearly 7 cents Price per gallon climbed over peak Labor Day travel period to $1.57 September 10, 2000: 5:31 p.m. ET

LOS ANGELES (CNN) - The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline rose nearly seven cents during the past two weeks, to $1.57, a national survey of gas prices found Sunday.

The Lundberg Survey compared prices at more than 10,000 gas stations between Aug. 25 and Sept. 8 -- dates that sandwich the high-demand Labor Day weekend -- and found the average cost of a gallon of self-serve regular rose 6.79 cents.

Publisher Trilby Lundberg blamed two causes: increases in the price of crude oil and continued high demand for gasoline, though the summer driving season officially ended last week.

"We're still using a lot of gasoline," Lundberg said, noting that the balance between supply and demand was tight.

Lundberg predicted the impact of an 800,000 barrel per day increase in production announced Sunday by members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries would have little impact on prices at the pump. Some countries were already producing more than their quota, referred to by OPEC as "leakage" and called cheating by some traders.

Prices were lowest in Atlanta, where a gallon of self-serve regular averaged $1.39. San Francisco was highest, at $1.96.

Most of the biggest increases were in the Midwest. In Detroit, the cost of a gallon of self-serve regular rose 22 cents, to $1.63, in Indianapolis, gas rose 20 cents, to $1.56, and in Chicago it climbed 13 cents to $1.60.

Prices dropped in Washington, D.C. nearly a penny, to $1.61, and more than 3 cents in Billings, Mont., to $1.56.

http://cnnfn.cnn.com/2000/09/10/home_auto/gas_prices/

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 10, 2000


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