Fuel Price Brief for the Week of July 25

FUEL PRICE BRIEF CONTACT:  For your local media contact visit www.AAA.com/Media Jessica Brady, manager, AAA Public Relations, office: (813) 288-7294; cell: (813) 532-5327, JBrady@AAASouth.com

CRUDE OIL CLOSES 30 CENTS SHY OF $100 A BARREL

TAMPA, Fla. (July 25, 2011) -- Crude oil closed just shy of $100 a barrel last week as optimism among investors continued that the U.S. economy will begin to pick up. Oil settled Friday at $99.87 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange--$2.38 more than the week prior. 

A weakened U.S. dollar coupled with European agreements to resolve the debt crisis and bailout Greece also drove oil prices higher. While gasoline demand remains relatively unchanged from this time last year, crude stockpiles fell as a result of increased demand for diesel.

"Consumers can expect to see retail gas prices increase further this week and it’s likely this increase will continue into August," said Jessica Brady, spokesperson, AAA Auto Club South. "As hurricane season starts to heat up with various storms forming, it’s likely oil prices will remain volatile on that factor alone. We are definitely going to see ebbs and flows in the oil market for the remainder of the summer with gas prices in continual fluctuation." 

The national average price of regular unleaded gasoline is $3.69 per gallon, a 2-cent increase from last week. Florida’s average price of $3.70 increased 4 cents. Georgia’s average price $3.73 rose 7 cents from last week. And, Tennessee’s average price of $3.57 increased 4 cents from last week, respectively.  

CURRENT AND PAST PRICE AVERAGES

Regular Unleaded Gasoline

                                    Current           Week Ago      Month Ago     Year Ago     

National:                    $3.694          $3.676                  $3.587            $2.737

Florida:                      $3.704          $3.667                  $3.551             $2.674

Georgia:                     $3.731          $3.669                  $3.509             $2.596

Tennessee:               $3.576          $3.535                  $3.409              $2.557

AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report (fuelgaugereport.com) is updated each day and is the most comprehensive; reflecting actual prices from credit card transactions within the past 24 hours at two-thirds (100,000 stations) of the gasoline stations in the U.S. Its accuracy is unparalleled.

Next Fuel Price Brief:  Sunday, July 31, 2011