Gas Prices Poised for Another Rise

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Gas prices in the Los Angeles area continued to inch away from record highs above $3 nearly two weeks ago, but with Tropical Storm Rita on the way, the respite was looking to be short-lived.


The average price of self-serve regular gasoline fell 4.1 cents to $2.934 a gallon for the seven days ended Sept. 19 from one week earlier, according to the Energy Information Administration.


Still, L.A. prices are 87.4 cents higher than they were a year ago, due to disruptions of petroleum operations in the Gulf Coast petroleum after Hurricane Katrina. On Monday, OPEC ministers expressed concern over Tropical Storm Rita, which was headed toward southern Florida. OPEC said support was building for a proposal to make available 2 million extra barrels of oil a day to help remedy the effects of refinery disruptions.


The storm was forecast to strengthen into a hurricane late Monday and could cause refinery production problems as it builds and moves toward the Gulf of Mexico. Chevron Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc began evacuating offshore workers as Rita approached.


Statewide, prices fell 5 cents to $2.954 from $3.004 over the week, 89.7 cents higher than year-ago rates. For the third straight week, California was outpriced by New York as the state with the highest gas prices in the nation. In New York, gas prices fell 28 cents a gallon to $3.020.


New York City was the priciest city in the nation for the third week in a row, falling 19.1 cents to $2.997. San Francisco came in second place at $2.994; Los Angeles was in third place.


Minnesota was the lowest-priced state of the areas surveyed, at $2.539 per gallon, and the city with cheapest gas was Cleveland, which dropped 28.7 cents to $2.667 per gallon.

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