Gas Prices Resume Drop, Ending Weeks of Increases

NEW YORK — The average price of regular grade gasoline fell 4 cents in the past two weeks, bringing it to $2.50 a gallon, according to the Lundberg survey released Sunday.

Prices bottomed out on Jan. 23 and had been rising since as the price of crude oil increased. The price for gasoline is still lower by $1.06 a gallon than it was a year ago, when the average was about $3.51 a gallon.

Trilby Lundberg, publisher of the survey, said that the price had fallen because of a drop in worldwide crude oil costs, which have been pressured by the sentiment that there is more then enough supply and the potential for more crude to be released onto the market.

The lowest-price gasoline in the survey area of the 48 contiguous U.S. states was in Charleston, South Carolina, at $2.11 a gallon. The highest price was in Los Angeles, at $3.29 a gallon.

Prices are highest in Los Angeles because of the summer blend regulation deadline and California’s global warming laws, Lundberg said.