Gas Prices Drop in State, U.S.

For the first time in more than four months, California motorists put $2.50 gasoline in the rearview mirror.

The state’s average price fell to $2.453 for a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline, down 12.9 cents in the last week, the first time since July 4 that the average was below that benchmark level, a government report showed Monday.

California’s gas price average, which peaked at $3.056 a gallon Sept. 5, is still 19 cents higher than it was a year ago, according to a weekly service station survey by the Energy Information Administration, an arm of the Energy Department. The average was below $2 a gallon only for the first four weeks of 2005.

The U.S. retail gasoline average declined 9.5 cents over the last week to an average $2.201 a gallon. That is the lowest price since June 20 but still up 25.3 cents from a year ago and a record for the Thanksgiving holiday week, the Energy Information Administration said.

The U.S. gas price average has fallen nearly 87 cents since hitting an all-time high of $3.069 a gallon in early September after Hurricane Katrina disrupted gasoline supplies.

In the agency’s latest weekly survey, the West Coast had the most expensive regional gasoline, with the price down 11.4 cents to $2.433 a gallon. Los Angeles had the most expensive gasoline in the agency’s survey of cities, down 15.5 cents to $2.483 a gallon.

The Midwest had the cheapest gasoline at $2.087 a gallon, down 9.1 cents. Among major cities, Cleveland had the cheapest fuel, down 12.8 cents to $2.048 a gallon.

Higher gas prices are cutting into some Americans’ travel plans, AAA said last week, projecting that 30.8 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home this Thanksgiving holiday weekend, up a slight 0.7% from last year.

“Higher prices and sagging consumer confidence will make Thanksgiving travel growth a bit less robust this holiday,” AAA said.

Still, it said, “you’d be hard-pressed to tell Grandma that you weren’t coming for Thanksgiving dinner just because it will cost an extra $10 to fill up the gas tank.”

Separately, the weekly price for diesel fuel fell 8.9 cents to $2.513 a gallon, the lowest level in 15 weeks but still up nearly 40 cents from a year ago, the Energy Information Administration said. In California, diesel cost $2.599 a gallon, down 11.8 cents.