http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080515/ts_nm/energy_gasoline_alaska_dc
Alaska first state to hit $4 a gallon gasoline: AAA
By Bernard Woodall
2 hours, 16 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Alaska hit a milestone on Wednesday that could
be a sign of things to come around the United States this summer -- it
became the first state where the average price for regular gasoline
reached $4 per gallon.
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"It wasn't totally unexpected," said Geoff Sundstrom, spokesman for
the travel and auto group AAA which issues a daily gasoline price
re****t.
"Oil prices recently brushed against $127 per barrel so certainly, $4
gasoline could be in the cards for other states as well this summer,"
said Sundstrom.
At $4 per gallon, filling up a 15-gallon tank will cost $60.
Alaskans using self-service regular gasoline paid $4.006 per gallon,
said the AAA Wednesday re****t.
The U.S. average for regular gasoline hit a record $3.758 per gallon,
the same re****t showed.
A year ago, the U.S. average price was $3.3354 a gallon and in Alaska,
the average price was $2.946 a gallon.
Gasoline price analysts will have a better handle on how many states
are likely to reach $4 a gallon this summer once the Memorial Day
weekend p*****, said Sundstrom. That holiday weekend is May 23-26.
"Memorial Day weekend is a little to the gasoline industry what
Christmas is to retailers," said Sundstrom. "It's one of the highest
demand weekends for fuel and is a barometer for what can be expected
in summer driving season demand."
The AAA will issue its summer travel forecast on Thursday.
How much high prices cut into gasoline demand -- largely by cutting
discretionary driving -- will go a long way to determining its price
per gallon ceiling, Sundstrom said.
So far in 2008, U.S. gasoline demand has fallen 1 per cent from 2007,
MasterCard Advisors said in a re****t issued earlier this week.
Earlier this month, the Petroleum Marketers Association of America
said summer U.S. gasoline demand will decline this year for the first
time since 1991.
After Alaska, states with the highest average prices for regular
gasoline on Wednesday were:
-- Connecticut, $3.977
-- California, $3.947
-- New York and Illinois, $3.926
-- Hawaii, $3.894
-- Michigan, $3.891
-- West Virginia, $3.889
The U.S. Labor Department on Wednesday re****ted that nationwide,
energy prices are up 16 percent from a year ago.
Crude oil prices rose to a record $126.98 a barrel on Tuesday from $62
a year ago, but fell to about $124 a barrel (42 gallons) on Wednesday,
ending a streak of seven trading sessions achieving record highs.
(Editing by Christian Wiessner and Carol Bishopric)
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