While gasoline prices fell toward the end of the year, consumers paid record prices for gas this year, according to AAA. STEPHEN PINGRY / Tulsa World
Motorists in the U.S. 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, 9 cents more than the previous annual record set a year ago, said Heathrow, Fla.-based AAA, the nation's largest motoring group.
Prices touched $3.94 a gallon on April 5 and 6 after crude oil rallied as the U.S. 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 emissions regulations are more loose.
"Factors as volatile as major hurricanes, refinery outages and tension in the Middle East resulted in significant frustration for people filling up their cars," Avery Ash, a spokesman for AAA, said in an emailed statement.
Hawaii, Alaska and California were the three most expensive states, while South Carolina, Missouri and Mississippi were 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.
Tulsa and Oklahoma motorists probably paid as much as they ever have, on average, for gasoline this past year. Even so, they still got off pretty cheap compared to the rest of the nation.
AAA Oklahoma spokesman Chuck Mai said the Tulsa retail price for self-serve regular unleaded averaged out to $3.32 per gallon for 2012. The statewide average was at $3.41.
"It seems like the Tulsa average has been 7 cents to 10 cents a gallon below the state average all year long," Mai noted in a telephone interview "This does bear that out."
Like everywhere else, local retail gas seemed to ride a price roller coaster all year. The Tulsa price jumped to $3.50 per gallon by early March and cracked $3.70 in August, before falling to $2.91 by Monday, according to AAA's Fuel Gauge Report.
The latter figure included outlets that charge more for 100 percent gasoline, as opposed to the standard ethanol blend.
Many convenience stores in the area were charging $2.83 a gallon Monday for regular unleaded.
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 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, MasterCard 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.
2012 averages for gasoline*
United States: $3.60
Oklahoma: $3.41
Tulsa: $3.32
*Price per gallon, regular unleaded.
Source: AAA
Tulsa World Staff Writer Rod Walton contributed to this story by Bloomberg News.
Energy
President Barack Obama's nominee to be the nation's top energy regulator came under sharp questioning Tuesday from lawmakers concerned that he may be opposed to coal and natural gas.
Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Doug Lawler acknowledged Tuesday what many employees have feared.
