Gas prices resume climb in RI

PROVIDENCE – Gasoline prices increased 6 cents in Rhode Island and a dime in Massachusetts in the last week, AAA Southern New England said.
The average price of self-serve, unleaded regular gas increased to $3.63 per gallon, according to the auto club’s April 4 survey, 4 cents less than the national average. Since the first week in January, gasoline has increased 48 cents per gallon. A year ago, the price stood at $2.80 per gallon.
At the same time, gas averaged $3.56 per gallon in Massachusetts, a gain of 10 cents from a week earlier.
According to Bloomberg News, oil prices approached record levels based on the continuing turmoil in Libya, although the prices did not rise as high as they might have, according to John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC, a New York-based hedge fund that focuses on energy, based on “talk that [Muammar] Qaddafi’s son and others are trying to arrange exit strategies there. If that situation calms down, then we’ll see several dollars come off the price.”
At stations in Rhode Island this week, the survey found average self-serve prices of $3.75 per gallon for midgrade unleaded, $3.87 for premium unleaded gasoline and $4.04 for diesel.
For more information, go to AAA Southern New England.