Gasoline price increases seem to have stalled after beginning what looked like the usual late spring run up earlier this week, apparently because of concern over the economic collapse of Greece. Prices jumped by a nickel a gallon – or more – in many part of California since last Friday, according to two price surveys. But that may be it for a while. “Thirteen states now have gas price averages above $3 a gallon. However, the price of oil dropped to below $80 a barrel today, so we’ll have to see if that has an impact on gas prices going forward,” said Jeffrey Spring, a spokesman for the Automobile Club of Southern California on Thursday. California’s average on May 7 is $3.150 per gallon, the AAA says. Light sweet crude for June delivery lost $2.86 on Thursday to settle at $77.11 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. More telling for motorists was the sharp drop in gasoline futures. Speculators hammered that number down to $2.1563 per gallon gasoline, a drop of 6.41 cents Thursday. Oddly, experts say the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has not yet tweaked prices. The problem has not affected other Gulf pumping operations and U.S. refineries that use the crude are operating normally. Here are Central Valley market averages on May 7, driving from south to north, as reported by the American Automobile Association with last week’s (April 30) averages in parentheses and [April 23] prices in brackets: • Bakersfield, $3.201 ($3.183) [$3.165] • Visalia-Porterville, $3.153 ($3.129) [$3.141] • Fresno, $3.181 ($3.158) [$3.144] • Merced, $3.125 ($3.121) [$3.076] • Modesto, $3.105 ($3.067) [$3.050] • Stockton-Lodi, $3.091 ($3.069) [$3.055] • Sacramento, $3.131 ($3.105) [$3.084] • Yolo, $3.094 ($3.081) [$3.058] • Yuba City, $3.089 ($3.054) [$3.057] • Chico, $3.087 ($3.066) [$3.036] The market average price of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area on May 7 is $3.142, which is 3.2 cents higher than last week’s market average. In San Diego, it’s $3.146, which is up just eight-tenths of a cent from last week’s average, the AAA says. San Francisco still has the highest market average gasoline price in all of California on May 7 -- $3.226 per gallon, the Auto Club says. Spring skiing can be fun, especially given this year’s Sierra snowpack, but some of the joy might be sucked away at the gas pump if you have to fill up in Kirkwood, where a local gas station is demanding $4.36 per gallon – the highest price in the state of California, says the website Gasbuddy.com. The usual location for the highest price for gas, a 76-brand gas station in Point Loma, is second, even having boosted its price by a dime to $3.99 when the market average barely budged. The state’s lowest market average on May 7 is in Chico at $3.087, the AAA says. What might be California’s lowest price on May 7 is $2.85 found by a GasBuddy.com price spotter in Bellflower in the Los Angeles area. The nation’s lowest price on May 7 appears to be where the play, “Revenge of the Space Pandas,” is wowing audiences -- Skiatook, Okla. Two gas stations in that town are posting $2.59 per gallon, according to GasBuddy. If you feel this story was of value to you, please consider a cash donation to Goodwill Industries of the San Joaquin Valley, our designated nonprofit. Thank you. To support them, please click here. Methodologies GasBuddy bases its figures on reports from volunteer “price spotters” reporting specific locations in the U.S. and Canada. They are not independently confirmed. The AAA’s prices are market averages for self-serve regular grade (87 octane) gasoline. They are calculated daily from credit card purchases and compiled by the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. Not every station is surveyed and not every market is included in either report. Both price surveys note that there can be wide variations within any market. Gasoline prices throughout California are higher than the national average and usually among the highest in the nation. That is due in part to taxes and a state law mandating a special blend of fuel to reduce polluting emissions.

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