Gasoline Price Hikes Take a Day Off

NEW YORK -- After coming within 0.7 of a cent of the U.S. record set last year, gasoline prices retreated slightly Thursday, their first general downturn in more than a month, reported USA Today.

Some saw it as a sign that prices at the pump have peaked, at least until an expected record-breaking summer surge. "The worst is over," said Tom Kloza, veteran analyst at consultant Oil Price Information Service (OPIS).

To others, it was a pause before gas prices go higher. A jump of 5 percent in wholesale gas prices Thursday seemed to support that view, according to the news source.

"I don't know if the argument's valid that gasoline is going down. Inventories are still below the normal range," said A.F. Alhajji, energy expert in the College of Business Administration at Ohio Northern University. He cited Thursday's wholesale price jump, to $1.122 a gallon, as evidence that prices haven't stalled.

The average price for a gallon of unleaded regular at the pump was $1.728 Thursday, down from $1.730 Wednesday, according to a daily survey of 60,000 gas stations by OPIS and AAA. The record is $1.737 on Aug. 30, 2003. Eleven states set statewide records this month. Prices are dropping in seven of those states, holding steady in two.

"Gas prices might begin to move somewhat lower the next few weeks, but AAA remains concerned about higher prices in the spring and summer months," spokesman Geoff Sundstrom said.

Political turmoil in Venezuela remains the biggest wild card, according to the news source.

"If that results in a national strike like last year, we're in a peck of trouble," said Jeff Lenard, spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores, whose members sell about three-fourths of the gasoline in the United States. Venezuela is a major supplier of crude oil and gasoline to the United States.