HOUSTON — The average retail price for regular gasoline slid half a penny in the two weeks ended Oct. 9 to $2.34 a gallon, the smallest decline since prices began falling almost four months ago — and a sign that the discounting may be over for now — according to Lundberg Survey Inc.
The survey is based on information obtained at about 2,500 filling stations. The average, while 91 cents below a year earlier, may start to creep up after 17 straight weeks of declines, said Trilby Lundberg, president of Lundberg Survey.
“We have somewhat higher crude oil prices, and they pushed US refiners to nudge their wholesale gasoline selling prices up, which in turn put a stop to retailers’ price-cutting at the pump,” Lundberg said Sunday. “I think the price-cutting is over for now, and we might actually see a slight rise in the national average.”
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The highest price for gasoline in the lower 48 states among the markets surveyed was in Los Angeles, at $2.96 a gallon. The lowest was in Charleston, S.C., where customers paid an average of $1.92. Regular gasoline averaged $2.34 a gallon on Long Island.