Skip navigation
Newswire

US gasoline pump price down first time in 3 weeks

By Tom Doggett

WASHINGTON, July 29 (Reuters) - U.S. retail gasoline prices declined for the first time in three weeks, dropping an average 0.3 cents a gallon over the last week to $1.407, the Energy Department said on Monday.

The latest pump price is up 2.3 cents from a year ago, based on a weekly survey of more than 800 service stations by the department's Energy Information Administration.

The national price for cleaner-burning reformulated gasoline, which is sold at about one-third of the gas stations in cities and smoggier areas, was down 0.1 cent to $1.468 a gallon, EIA said.

The West Coast had the most expensive regular unleaded gasoline, though the average price in the region was down 0.9 cents to $1.532 a gallon.

The Gulf Coast states had the cheapest fuel, with the average price down half a penny to $1.31 a gallon.

San Francisco kept its top spot among major cities in fuel costs, with the price down one penny to $1.659 a gallon.

The best deal at the pump was again found in Houston, where gasoline was down 0.9 cents to $1.311 a gallon.

The report also showed gasoline prices up 6.4 cents in Chicago to $1.543, down 1.7 cents in Los Angeles to $1.528, up 2.4 cents in Denver to $1.472 and up 1 penny in New York City to $1.458.

The biggest year-on-year change in city pump prices was in Chicago, where gasoline costs are up 17 cents a gallon.

The EIA said it expects the average pump price to peak at around $1.43 later this summer, far from last year's record weekly price of $1.70.

Fuel costs remain higher because of strong gasoline demand and lower inventories. The most recent weekly data from EIA shows that gasoline inventories were down 1 million barrels from a year ago, but gasoline demand was up 1.7 percent.

Separately, the nationwide price for diesel fuel decreased for the first time week in six weeks, falling 0.8 cents to $1.303 a gallon, and down 4.4 cents from a year ago.

Truckers in the central Atlantic states paid the most for diesel fuel at $1.398 a gallon, up 0.7 cents from the prior week. The lower Atlantic states had the cheapest diesel, down 1.4 cents to $1.259 a gallon.