Holiday prices jump at pumps

Utah motorists are getting a proverbial lump of coal ahead of Christmas in the form of higher gasoline prices.

AAA Utah said Tuesday that Utahns are paying an average of $3.07 for a gallon of regular, self-serve gasoline. That's up 3 cents from November and up 79 cents from a year ago.

What's more, Utah is one of only 11 states in the country to see an increase since November, and only 13 states have higher average prices than the Beehive State.

"The price of oil has dropped from its high mark of just over $98 a barrel to under the $88 mark in the past several weeks," Rolayne Fairclough, AAA Utah spokeswoman, said in a prepared statement. "This drop has translated into lower prices for gasoline throughout most of the country."

The national average is $3, down 11 cents from November but still 71 cents higher than a year ago. Thirty-eight states reported lower prices than a month ago.

Hawaii has the highest average, at $3.43 per gallon. Missouri motorists are paying $2.76, the lowest level in the country.

All of the Utah cities in the AAA survey experienced price increases since November. Ogden's rise was the highest, at 9 cents per gallon, for an average of $3.07. The highest average is in Moab, where motorists are paying $3.19 per gallon, up 8 cents from November.

Other averages include $3.07 in Logan, up 3 cents; $3.02 in Salt Lake, up 4 cents; $3.05 in Provo, up 4 cents; $3.09 in Vernal, up 8 cents; and $3.14 in St. George, up 3 cents.

AAA Utah surveys a limited number of communities across the state in its monthly gas report. Individual service stations sell gas at both higher and lower prices, sometimes in the same city block. AAA's report focuses on self-serve regular gasoline without regard to its octane level.

Most Intermountain states saw gas prices shrink. Colorado's fell 18 cents to $2.92. Montana's slipped 4 cents to $3.14. Wyoming's average of $2.99 was down 4 cents. Nevada drivers saw a 2-cent fall to $3.13.

Idaho motorists are paying 2 cents more per gallon, for an average of $3.11. The price remained the same in Arizona, at $2.99.

AAA noted that the price fluctuations have become more closely linked than usual to the condition of world financial markets and the value of the dollar, as much as it has been to the normal influences of supply and demand.

"Supply and demand is another measure in pricing gasoline," Fairclough said. "There is a trend to flat or slightly lower demand over the past month. This puts a downward pressure on prices since demand usually increases about 2 percent per year as more vehicles are added to the roadways. This drop-off of demand, as reported by the Energy Information Administration and MasterCard, may be a reflection of concern about the state of the economy and gasoline prices over $3 a gallon."

AAA's Fuel Finder at www.aaa.com/gasprices tracks real-time information on gasoline prices at more than 85,000 stations throughout the country.

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E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com