Tuesday May 15, 3:19 pm Eastern Time

Press Release Southern California, State Average Gas Prices Hit $2 LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 15, 2001--Average gas prices for the state and Southern California have reached a record $2 per gallon for the first time ever.

This is the fourth consecutive month of increases and brings the total Southern California increase to 40 cents since mid-February, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California's monthly Fuel Gauge report.

The Southern California average price for regular unleaded fuel is $2, a 12-cent increase from a $1.78 average price on March 13. This compares with $1.66 per gallon in May 2000. The lowest average price in Southern California and the state continues to be in La Habra, where the price increased to $1.88 a gallon.

The highest average price for regular in the state and the nation can be found in Blythe at $2.17 per gallon.

The average is $2.13 in San Francisco, up 11 cents from a month ago. Las Vegas is up 16 cents to $1.89 per gallon during the same time period.

Nationally, the average for regular unleaded rose 13 cents to $1.72. The lowest statewide average price in the nation is in Georgia, where the price of gasoline averages nearly $1.50 per gallon.

While crude oil prices seemed to have stabilized around $28 per barrel, the increasing gasoline prices reflect an expected increase in demand for summer. Analysts expect the price of gasoline to reach a plateau near the Memorial Day holiday period and -- barring any unforeseen refinery disruptions or other supply problems -- begin to ease lower in some areas if gasoline supplies increase later in the summer.

In Southern California, the averages for regular and premium grades of gasoline are listed below:

Prices

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), May 16, 2001

Answers

Just found this site. It takes a while to load, but will give you the prices of gasoline in and around a zip code. You can set the search radius, sort on price, location, etc.

It give you the date and time of the last update for the location if you put your mouse pointer on the clock face.

The main page shows the highest and lowest price in the USA and Canada for gasoline, heating oil, and I don't know what else.

http://www.gaspricewatch.com/

-- PHO (owennos@bigfoot.com), May 16, 2001.

Isn't this half-assed backwards? Traditionally, seasonally, gasoline prices go up after Memorial Day, not down, or even level off. The pain quotient is not yet, I don't think, bad enough to discourage heavy travel plans.

I think somebody is being unduly optimistic here.

-- QMan (qman@c-zone.net), May 16, 2001.