Gas Price Down 4.8 Cents in Last Month, AAA Says

    ORLANDO, Fla.--June 12, 2001--A large drop in gasoline prices in the Great Lakes states has helped bring the nationwide average price of self-serve regular unleaded down 4.8 cents since the middle of last month to $1.661 per gallon, AAA's Fuel Gauge Report shows.
    Prices in the Great Lakes states have declined an average 12 cents in the last month from $1.862 to $1.742 today. Prices also fell in other regions of the nation, with the exceptions of the Northeast and West.
    The nationwide average fuel price has been declining since the end of the Memorial Day weekend as overall inventories of gasoline have increased. Recent flooding in southeast Texas has created some refining problems, however, which could negatively impact gasoline production in the short-term.
    AAA's monthly Fuel Gauge Report shows prices are highest in the West, up an average 3.1 cents to $1.769 per gallon since mid-May. In New England, the average price is $1.721 per gallon, up 1.4 cents in the last month.
    In the Midwest, prices fell 2.9 cents per gallon to average $1.709 and declined .5 cent per gallon in the Mid-Atlantic states to $1.689. Prices in the Southwest dropped 1.4 cents in one month to average $1.63 per gallon. Motorists in the Southeast are paying the lowest prices in the U.S., an average $1.544 per gallon, down 4.6 cents in one month.
    This month the nationwide average price of self-serve regular gasoline is 6.7 cents higher than one year ago when the average price was $1.594 per gallon.
    Nationwide, the price of self-serve, mid-grade averages $1.764 per gallon, a decrease of 5 cents from last month, and 7.2 cents more expensive than last year.
    Self-serve premium averages $1.827, down 5.3 cents since mid-May, and 9.5 cents higher than one year ago.
    The national average prices for self-serve regular unleaded gasoline for AAA's June survey for the last five years were: 2000, $1.587; 1999, $1.142; 1998, $1.108; 1997, $1.25; and 1996, $1.303.
    AAA's Fuel Gauge Report is based on data from Oil Price Information Service -- the nation's most comprehensive source of petroleum pricing information.