HOUSTON — U.S. motorists paid record high prices for gasoline in 2012, as severe weather and political tensions drove up the cost of fuel.
The national average price of gasoline in 2012 was $3.60 a gallon, nine cents more than the previous annual record set in 2011, said Heathrow, Fla.-based AAA, the nation’s largest motoring group.
Prices reached $3.94 a gallon on April 5 and 6 after crude oil rallied as the United States and European nations imposed an embargo on Iranian oil exports to pressure the Persian Gulf nation over its nuclear program. Prices sank as low as $3.22 a gallon on Dec. 20 amid lower demand and higher supply in winter, when motor fuel faces looser emissions regulations.
“Factors as volatile as major hurricanes, refinery outages and tension in the Middle East resulted in significant frustration for people filling up their cars,” said AAA spokesman Avery Ash.
In Arkansas, the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline Monday was $3.13, up slightly from $3.11 Dec. 31, 2011.
Hawaii, Alaska and California saw the three most expensive prices for gasoline, while South Carolina, Missouri and Mississippi saw the cheapest.
Gasoline prices will probably drop more this year than in 2012 because of increased domestic crude production and lower motor-fuel demand, Ash said.
The U.S. produced 6.98 million barrels of oil a day in the week ended Dec. 21, the most since March 1993, according to Energy Department data. Drillers in states like North Dakota and Texas have spurred the output growth with increased use of methods such as directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing.
The four-week average for gasoline demand the week ended Dec. 21 was 3.3 percent below a year earlier, Master-Card Inc. said last week. Year to-date fuel consumption is 3.6 percent below the same period in 2011. The information is based on credit-card swipes and cash and check payments at about 140,000 U.S. gasoline stations.
Benchmark U.S. crude rose $1.02 to settle Monday at $91.82 per barrel in New York. Oil has wavered in recent weeks along with the ups and downs of the federal budget negotiations. The price of oil finished December up about 3 percent from the start of the month. It ranged from a low near $77 a barrel to high around $110 a barrel during the year.
Brent crude, used to price international varieties of oil, rose 49 cents to end at $111.11 a barrel.
Information for this article was contributed by The Associated Press.
Business, Pages 20 on 01/01/2013