Price of Gasoline Rose at the Pump During October
U.S. gasoline prices rose last month by an average five cents a gallon even as production increases by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries drove down crude-oil prices. The culprits: bad weather and production problems.</br></br>But despite average pump prices last month of $1.45 for a gallon of regular unleaded, prices have begun to taper off, and economists said the gasoline-price rise likely has run out of steam for the rest of the year.</br></br>"The recent jump in gas prices will turn out to be a blip," said Dave Costello, an economist with the Energy Information Administration, an arm of the Department of Energy. Barring a war with Iraq -- which could crimp global crude-oil supplies to refineries -- prices should remain around $1.40 a gallon through December, Mr. Costello said.</br></br>Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and other production problems drove up wholesale prices during October. In the Northeast, a shortage of methyl tertiary butyl ether, an additive used to reduce emissions and add octane to gasoline, put pressure on prices. MTBE prices jumped to $1.31 a gallon in October, compared with 70 cents last year, before falling to $1.10 a gallon this month.</br></br>Overall average spot gasoline prices rose five cents nationally, or 6%, according to EIA data. The Labor Department's producer price index showed an even bigger, seasonally adjusted jump of 18% in wholesale prices. Mr. Costello said the index doesn't include the last week of October, when spot prices were falling.