Gas prices rise at record pace
Industry survey blames increase on blackout, pipeline break
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| GAS PRICES |
Average price for a gallon of regular self-serve unleaded in selected cities.
El Paso, Texas: $1.59
Birmingham, Alabama: $1.61
Detroit, Michigan: $1.74
Salt Lake City, Utah: $1.76
Chicago, Illinois: $1.83
Las Vegas, Nevada: $1.88
Sacramento, California: $2.02
Miami, Florida: $1.68
Hartford, Connecticut: $1.62
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: $1.64
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CAMARILLO, California (CNN) -- Gas prices zoomed at a record pace during the past two weeks, increasing by more than 15 cents per gallon to a national average of $1.72, according to a national survey of gas stations.
That was the largest two-week rise in the half-century history of the Lundberg Survey, Publisher Trilby Lundberg told CNN.
Still, the price was a penny shy of the all-time high, set on March 21, she said.
Lundberg said panic buying in Phoenix, Arizona, after a pipeline burst August 8, cutting supplies to the area, caused prices there to soar 60 cents per gallon, to $2.12. Phoenix consumers paid the most in the nation for gasoline, according to the survey.
Energy officials in Arizona say the pipeline has been repaired and gas is flowing into Phoenix again, though they say it may take a few days for it to reach the city, according to The Associated Press.
The rupture affected prices all along the West Coast, driving the average cost of a gallon of gas in Los Angeles up 42 cents, to $2.06.
Refinery shutdowns caused by last week's blackout that affected parts of the East and Midwest also played a role in the price jump, she said.
The survey of prices at about 7,000 gas stations was carried out August 8 and Friday. Drivers in Charleston, South Carolina, paid the least, at $1.49, according to the survey.
Lundberg said the pipeline's repair and the drop in demand that typically occurs at summer's end would likely send prices lower in coming weeks.
