U.S. voters enjoy cheapest gasoline of 2006 - govt
06 Nov 2006 22:10:28 GMT Source: Reuters
By Tom Doggett WASHINGTON, Nov 6 (Reuters) - U.S. voters driving to the election polls will enjoy the cheapest gasoline prices of 2006, with the average pump cost falling to $2.20 a gallon, the government said on Monday. The national price for regular unleaded gasoline dropped 1.8 cents in the last week and is 18 cents lower than a year ago, according to the federal Energy Information Administration's weekly survey of 800 service stations. The much larger Lundberg survey of about 6,000 stations said the average pump price fell 1.9 cents over the last two weeks to $2.18 a gallon, also a low for 2006. Many Americans believe big oil companies have been working with the Bush administration to push down gasoline prices in order to help Republican candidates in this week's elections, and that they will then raise fuel prices again. The White House has denied such a conspiracy and the oil industry said the unexpected 1 penny jump in the national gasoline price in the EIA's survey the previous week showed there was no market manipulation. After reaching a summer high of $3.04 a gallon in early August, pump prices had fallen for a record 11 weeks in a row. Gasoline costs are down because of lower crude oil prices, energy experts say. Democrats had hoped soaring gasoline prices earlier this summer would help them in this week's mid-term congressional elections. Falling pump costs do not appear to have benefited Republican candidates, as polls suggest Democrats will take control of the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate. In the EIA's new weekly survey, the West Coast had the most expensive gasoline by region, down 3.3 cents in the last week to $2.38 a gallon. San Francisco had the highest pump price among cities at $2.38 a gallon, down 2.5 cents. The cheapest gasoline was found at Gulf Coast service station at $2.08 a gallon, down 2.2 cents. Houston had the lowest pump cost at $2, down 1.6 cents. The EIA also reported that prices were down 2 cents in Seattle at $2.37, down 1.8 cents in Miami at $2.30, up 0.7 cent in Chicago at $2.28, down 1.9 cents in New York City at $2.16, down 2.1 cents in Denver at $2.13 and down 1.4 cents in Boston at $2.13. Separately, the EIA said the price truckers paid for diesel fuel dropped 1.1 cents to $2.51 a gallon, down 19 cents from a year ago. Service stations in the central Atlantic states charged the most for diesel at an average $2.63 a gallon, down 1.8 cents. The next-door lower Atlantic states had the cheapest diesel at $2.45, down 2.4 cents.
