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Bargain Gas Prices for Year's Busiest Travel Days

18 November 1998

Bargain Gas Prices for Year's Busiest Travel Days; Lowest Pre-Thanksgiving Pump Prices in 9 years, says AAA

    SAN FRANCISCO--Nov. 17, 1998--Motorists can gobble up gas at the lowest pre-Thanksgiving prices in nine years, AAA of Northern California reported today.
    "Consumers will be feasting on low gas prices and stuffing their tanks as they prepare for the busiest travel holiday of the year," said AAA spokesman Paul Moreno.
    Retail gasoline averages $1.17 a gallon for regular unleaded self-serve in Northern California -- the lowest November price since 1989, when the average price was $1.07, according to AAA. It is the lowest price for any month since March 1994, when the Northern California average was $1.15.
    "Motorists can give thanks to a worldwide oil glut that has driven gas prices down 26 cents in one year," Moreno said.
    Northern California gas prices fell 3 cents from last month. In the same period, the San Francisco Bay Area average also dropped 3 cents to $1.20, which remains 14 cents higher than the national average of $1.06, according to AAA's survey of more than 400 gasoline retailers in Northern California, Nevada and Utah.
    Gas prices have dropped steadily in the past year as crude oil prices fell by one third due to worldwide overproduction and lower demand from economic conditions in Asia, analysts say.
    "Prices are still down for crude, with only slight upticks and downticks," said Alan Kovski of The Oil Daily, a Washington, D.C.-based newsletter.
    Even recent tensions in the Persian Gulf did not create a reaction in oil markets, said Kovski.
    In Northern California, local averages for regular unleaded self-serve gasoline (since October 20) are:

--        Chico, $1.12 (down 3 cents)                   
--        Eureka, $1.25 (down 2 cents)                  
--        Lake Tahoe, $1.19 (down 7 cents)              
--        Monterey, $1.22 (down a penny)                
--        Redding, $1.17 (down 3 cents)                 
--        Salinas, $1.18 (down a penny)                 
--        San Jose, $1.14 (down a nickel)               
--        San Rafael, $1.20 (down a penny)              
--        Santa Rosa, $1.13 (down 2 cents)              
--        Concord, $1.12 (down 4 cents)         
--        Fresno, $1.08 (down 3 cents)          
--        Modesto, $1.04 (down 2 cents)         
--        Oakland, $1.20 (down 2 cents)         
--        Sacramento, $1.08 (down a nickel)     
--        San Francisco, $1.27 (down 3 cents)   
--        San Mateo, $1.23 (down a penny)       
--        Santa Cruz, $1.19 (down 3 cents)      
--        Stockton, $1.07 (down 2 cents)        

    Since last month, Nevada gas prices also are down 3 cents to $1.17 a gallon. In Utah, prices are unchanged at $1.12 a gallon in the same period, according to AAA's survey.
    Established more than 90 years ago, the AAA affiliate of Northern California, Nevada and Utah offers a wide array of automotive, insurance, travel and financial services. It is the second largest regional affiliate of the national AAA organization.


    NOTE TO EDITORS: A chart showing 12 months of city averages is available. Additional city averages also are available on request.
    AAA's Thanksgiving holiday travel projections will be out Nov. 23.