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Newswire

U.S. gasoline pump price falls for a second week

By Tom Doggett

WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - U.S. drivers found more relief at the pump as the average gasoline price fell 4.1 cents over the last week to $1.649 a gallon, mirroring the drop in crude costs at the start of the war with Iraq, the government said on Monday.

The national price for regular unleaded gasoline was still up 28 cents from a year ago, but has declined 8 cents a gallon from its record high two weeks ago, based on a survey of service stations by the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration.

Lower crude oil prices right before and after the start of U.S.-led war against Iraq appear to have been passed on to consumers at the pump.

Crude oil prices account for about 40 percent of the cost of a gallon of gasoline.

However, oil prices are on the rise again due to market concerns that the Iraqi war may last longer and political unrest in OPEC-member Nigeria has disrupted that country's oil production.

As result, gasoline prices could turn upward once more.

EIA has forecast that gasoline is expected to peak at $1.76 a gallon in April.

The national price for cleaner-burning reformulated gasoline, which is sold at about one-third of the gas stations in more polluted metropolitan areas, decreased 2.5 cents in the last week to $1.795 a gallon, EIA said.

The West Coast had the most expensive regular unleaded gasoline, with the average price in the region down 1.6 cents to $2.021 a gallon, EIA said. The Midwest states had the cheapest gasoline with an average price of $1.524, down 7.4 cents a gallon.

As for cities, San Francisco maintained its top spot in fuel costs, although the price was down 10 cents to $2.165 a gallon. Houston had the cheapest gasoline, with the price 1.8 cents lower to $1.549 a gallon.

The report also showed gasoline prices were down 0.9 cents in Los Angeles at $2.128, down 1.7 cents in New York City at $1.697, down 2 cents in Denver at $1.632 and down 8.5 cents in Chicago at $1.606.

Separately, the average price for diesel fuel fell 6 cents to $1.602 a gallon, up 31 cents from last year. Diesel has fallen 15 cents over the last two weeks.

Truckers in the New England states paid the most for diesel fuel at $1.823 a gallon, down 6.9 cents from the prior week. The Midwest states had the cheapest diesel at $1.526, down 7 cents a gallon.