Pump Prices Rise Nearly 2 Cents

After a flat summer, gasoline prices edged up nearly 2 cents a gallon in the last two weeks, an industry analyst said Sunday.

“The low and very, very stable prices throughout the summer did have to end some time,” Trilby Lundberg said. “What we have is a closer balance between supply and demand and continued crude oil price strengths.”

Despite increased summer driving, supplies remained plentiful, Lundberg said.

“Considering the extremely low prices of the whole summer, this is not an indicator of great price hikes to come ... or a gasoline shortage,” she said.

The national price of gas at the pump averaged about $1.46 a gallon Friday, according to the Lundberg survey of 8,000 stations. That was up 1.68 cents from July 12.

The average had hovered within a few pennies of that range since peaking at $1.46 in early April.

Most regions of the country saw a price hike, although the West, where prices already were higher, averaged a drop of about a penny per gallon, Lundberg said.