By Christopher Doering
WASHINGTON, Sept 30 (Reuters) - U.S. retail gas prices rose for the third time in the last month as the average cost of a gallon of gasoline soared 1.8 cents during the last week to $1.413, the Energy Department said on Monday.
The latest pump price in the United States, based on a weekly survey of more than 800 service stations by the department's Energy Information Administration, is down 0.3 cents from a year ago.
Crude oil prices have remained above the key $30 a barrel level in recent weeks as a series of storms in the Gulf of Mexico and the threat of military action against has Iraq left many industry watchers uneasy. NYMEX November crude settled 9 cents lower at $30.45 a barrel, after trading from $30.40 to $30.90.
The price of crude oil accounts for about 40 percent of the cost of a gallon of gasoline.
The price surge was led by the Midwest, where the average price for a gallon of gas rose 3.3 cents to $1.410. Motorists in the Lower Atlantic region had the cheapest pump prices even though the average cost jumped 3.1 cents to $1.345.
The West Coast had the most expensive regular unleaded gasoline in the country, but prices still managed to dip 0.8 cents to $1.506, the only drop posted in the major regions surveyed by the EIA.
Among the six major cities highlighted by the EIA, Houston was by far and away the cheapest place for gasoline at $1.327, up 0.4 cents. In Denver, gasoline rose 0.2 cents to $1.393 while in New York City they rose 0.5 cents to $1.488.
San Francisco drivers continued to pay the most to fuel up as the cost for a gallon of gas was $1.617, down 0.4 cents.
Prices in five cities have fallen between 0.2 cents in Houston and 14.6 cents in Chicago from a year ago, while remaining unchanged in Houston.
The national price for cleaner-burning reformulated gasoline, which is sold at about one-third of the gas stations in cities and smoggier areas, rose 0.2 cents to $1.470.
U.S. truckers continued to pay more in the latest week as the price for a gallon of diesel rose 2.1 cents to $1.438, its seventh straight weekly increase. Prices, which rose across all major regions, are up an average 4.8 cents from a year ago.
Truckers in the Lower Atlantic paid the least for diesel at $1.388, up 2.6 cents. The West Coast had the highest price with the average gallon of diesel up 0.2 cents to $1.536.