PROVIDENCE – Gasoline prices in Rhode Island have risen for the first time in seven weeks, AAA Southern New England reported Monday.
The auto club’s Oct. 19 survey found the average price of self-serve, unleaded regular at Ocean State stations was $2.54 per gallon, up 4 cents from last week.
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The run-up in oil prices continued on Monday as crude briefly topped $79 a barrel, the highest level in a year, in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, before falling back to $78.33 as of 9:59 a.m., Bloomberg News reported.
Oil prices are rising despite abundant supplies in the United States, the largest consumer of the fuel. The Energy Department said supplies of distillates such as diesel and home heating oil are 30 percent above their five-year seasonal average.
“I wouldn’t expect oil prices to cross $80 a barrel and stay there,” Thina Saltvedt, an analyst at Nordea Bank AB in Oslo, Norway, told Bloomberg. “Optimism from equities still seems to be channeling into the oil market. But you still need to see an improvement on the demand side before there’s support above $80.”
In its survey, AAA found prices in Rhode Island ranging from $2.39 to $2.68 per gallon for unleaded regular. At $2.54, the average price per gallon in Rhode Island is 2 cents lower than the average price nationwide of $2.56, an increase of 7 cents from last week.
Prices also increased for the first time in seven weeks in Massachusetts. The AAA survey found the average price of self-serve, unleaded regular was $2.49 per gallon in the Bay State, up 6 cents from last week and 5 cents below Rhode Island’s average.
At stations in Rhode Island this week, the survey found average self-serve prices of $2.68 per gallon for midgrade unleaded, $2.79 for premium unleaded gasoline, and $2.71 for diesel.
For more information, visit AAA.com.
