Gasoline Prices Likely to Start Rising Again

SAN DIEGO -- After nearly three months of decline, the price of gasoline is likely to swing upward for the next two weeks due to the approaching Labor Day weekend, and then resume the downward trend into November, predicts the San Diego-based watchdog organization, Utility Consumers' Action Network, as reported by Media Monitors Network.

The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in San Diego was $2.116 this week, according to a UCAN survey, although the Automobile Club of Southern California reported it at $2.093. This is about 25 to 30 cents a gallon below the records highs of last spring, the Network reported.

However, the price is likely to rise at least two cents a gallon today and higher as Labor Day approaches and more people travel, said Bob Van der Valk, bulk fuels manager for Cosby Oil in Duarte, and known as The Gas Guy, noting that historically August has the highest demand for gasoline of any month.

Prices are likely to drop again from Labor Day to Thanksgiving as demand falls off, but will rise through the end of the year due to the holiday season. Because the big oil companies own their own wells, "they are not paying $48 a barrel," said Charles Langley, gasoline analyst for UCAN, in explanation of why oil companies are not raising their gas prices. Also, there is a 60- to 90-day lag time between the price paid for a barrel of crude oil and when that cost affects the price of gas at the pump, he added.
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