The price of oil and gasoline continued to fall. A gallon of regular unleaded gasoline sold for $1.329 at a Valero station in Missouri last week. Prices in the Midwest rose slightly since then, but fell in California.
California's average falls 6.7 cents to $1.738 a gallon.
Pump prices continued their unprecedented decline in California and much of the nation over the last week, reaching levels not seen since the early weeks of 2004, the Energy Department said today.
The new lows came on an odd day in the commodities markets in which the same threat of further production cuts this week by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries was seen first as bullish and then later on as bearish for oil. Crude oil futures for January delivery fell $1.77 to close at $44.51 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after trading as high as $50.05 during the day.
"The market rallied early on from the fact that OPEC was promising more cuts in production, but then the thinking changed that this was only going to hurt demand with the global economy already faltering," said Phil Flynn, vice president and senior market analyst for Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago.
Meanwhile, relief at the pumps continued everywhere except in the Midwest, where prices rose for the first time since Hurricane Ike caused spot shortages there in September. The Midwest average rose 4.2 cents to $1.644 for a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline.
Nationally, the average fell 4 cents to $1.659, according to the Energy Department's weekly survey of filling stations. That was $1.339 below the year-earlier price and the lowest recorded since gas cost $1.648 on Feb. 16, 2004.
California's gasoline average fell 6.7 cents to $1.738 a gallon, or $1.547 below the year-earlier price. That was the lowest since the $1.726 recorded on Jan. 26, 2004. |
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