Gasoline prices see abnormal rise

As travelers prepare to hit the road for Thanksgiving, the trip is getting more expensive: Gasoline prices increased during the last week in most of the country, led by California and the other West Coast states, a federal report showed Monday.

Refinery maintenance and tight supplies drove the uncharacteristic mid-November surge as the price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in California rose 3.1 cents to $2.495, the third straight weekly increase, according to the Energy Department’s weekly survey of filling stations. The price was 4.2 cents higher than in the same period in 2005.

Motorists in the Pacific Northwest were hit even harder, however, driving West Coast prices up 3.5 cents as a whole to $2.473 a gallon, up 4 cents from the previous year.

Nationally, retail gasoline prices rose 0.7 cent to $2.239 for the week, 3.8 cents above the price in 2005. It was the second consecutive increase and the third in the last four weeks.

LA Times