PROVIDENCE – Gasoline prices in Rhode Island rose for the second consecutive week, AAA Southern New England reported Monday.
The auto club’s Feb. 14 survey found the average price of self-serve, unleaded regular at Ocean State stations was $3.19, up one penny from last week and 49 cents from a year ago.
In Massachusetts, gasoline prices stayed at $3.11, continuing a three-week streak of “little or no movement.”
Bloomberg News said gasoline and heating oil gained after Hovensa LLC reported a fire in a distillate desulfurizer at the St. Croix refinery in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Gasoline has risen since Hovensa’s Feb. 11 notice of a blaze at the 525,000 barrel-a-day plant, which exports products to the U.S. East Coast. New York Harbor is the delivery point for heating oil and gasoline futures.
“The fire in Hovensa will affect both gasoline and distillate exports to the U.S.,” said Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates LLC in Houston.
Gasoline for March delivery added 5.69 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $2.5221 a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices gained 1.2 percent last week, the first increase in four weeks, Bloomberg News said.
In its survey, AAA found prices in Rhode Island ranging from $3.13 to $3.29 per gallon for unleaded regular this week. The national average was $3.12.
At stations in Rhode Island this week, the survey found average self-serve prices of $3.31 per gallon for midgrade unleaded, $3.43 for premium unleaded gasoline, and $3.61 for diesel.
For more information, visit AAA.com
