Arkansas gas prices up ahead of holiday season kick-off

Pump prices in Arkansas and across the U.S. are headed upward in concert with the annual countdown to the traditional start of the holiday shopping season.

Additionally, crude oil for December delivery rose $1.09 Wednesday (Nov. 10)  on the New York Mercantile to $87.81 per barrel, while the January contracts were up to $88.29 a barrel.

According to the Energy Information Administration, the average retail price for a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. shot up 6 cents from last week to $2.87 per gallon and was 20 cents per gallon higher than last year at this time.

The increase was most pronounced in the Midwest, where the gasoline price soared 13 cents versus the previous week. Prices on the Gulf Coast gained four cents, followed by a 3-cent rise on the East Coast. Prices on the West Coast remained the highest in the country at $3.08 per gallon.

In Arkansas, retail gasoline prices have jumped nearly 6 cents in the past week. According to AAA’s daily Fuel Gauge report, Arkansas motorists are paying $2.70 per gallon for regular unleaded. Retail diesel prices are averaging about $3.04 a gallon.

Pump prices in Arkansas’ metropolitan areas range from a low of $2.65 per gallon in Pine Bluff to a high of nearly $2.74 in the Texarkana area. Retail prices in Little Rock are averaging $2.68 per gallon, while travelers to Fort Smith and Northwest Arkansas are paying about $2.71 and $2.72 per gallon, respectively, to fill up their tanks.

The average retail diesel price was a nickel higher than last week, with the national average for a gallon of diesel now up to $3.12 per gallon, 32 cents higher than last year at this time. Prices in the Rocky Mountains led way, gaining 6 cents versus last week. Comparable to the national average, the East Coast, Midwest, and Gulf Coast regions each registered a gain of about a nickel.

The diesel price increase on the West Coast lagged the rest of the country, growing 3 cents from the week before, but like gasoline, remained the highest in the country at $3.27 per gallon.

The traditional start of the holiday season begins on Black Friday, or the weekend after Thanksgiving. Earlier this week, the EIA issued its short-term outlook report and said it expects regular-grade motor gasoline retail prices to average $2.84 per gallon this winter, 19 cents per gallon higher than last winter. Retail diesel fuel prices are expected to average $3.09 per gallon this winter, an increase of 29 cents per gallon over last winter.

The EIA’s short-term outlook, released on Tuesday, also forecasts slightly higher crude oil prices this winter of about $83 a barrel, three dollars higher than last month’s prediction. The EIA, the statistical arm of the U.S. Energy Department, also believes that crude oil prices will increase gradually to $87 a barrel by late 2011 as the nation and the world continue to recover from the recession.