U.S. retail gasoline rises for second week to $1.551/gallon Filed: 10/24/2000

Washington, Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) B U.S. retail gasoline prices rose for the second straight week to average $1.551 a gallon, according to a U.S. Department of Energy survey.

Regular, self-service gasoline rose 1.2 cents a gallon in the week ended today from $1.539 a week earlier, according to the department's survey of 800 filling stations.

Prices at the pump are 25 percent higher than a year ago and have risen in seven of the past 10 weeks. Still, they are below their record of $1.681 during the week ended June 19, and few analysts expect motorists to change their driving habits or to slow purchases of gas-guzzling sport-utility vehicles.

"I don't see the SUV craze going anywhere until gasoline reaches at least $2 a gallon," said Jake Dollarhide, who helps manage $50 million for Fredric Russell Investment Management Co. in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Sport utility vehicles are the third-best-selling category of vehicles behind midsize cars and pickup trucks.

Gasoline was most expensive on the West Coast, where a gallon of regular fell 10 cents to $1.751. The fuel was cheapest in the Gulf Coast states from Alabama to Texas, where it dropped 0.5 cent to $1.437 a gallon. The Midwest had the biggest gain, rising 3.6 cents to $1.559 a gallon, the government said.

Diesel

Retail diesel fuel prices fell 2.2 cents to $1.648 a gallon, after reaching a record $1.67 last week, the government said. Diesel prices are 34 percent higher than they were a year ago.

Higher fuel prices have helped boost oil company profits to record highs this year. Conoco Inc., the nation's fourth-largest U.S. oil company, reported today that its third-quarter earnings doubled to a record because of increased gasoline, oil and natural gas prices.

The top three U.S. oil companies, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and Texaco Inc., are set to report earnings tomorrow that analysts say may beat the record profits they reported the previous quarter.

"Between the consolidation and the prices we've been seeing, it's been a really great year for the oils," Dollarhide said. The fund manager said he doesn't own any oil company stocks now.

The price of crude oil, which is refined into gasoline, is up more than 45 percent form a year ago on concern that supply increases by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries aren't enough to keep pace with rising world demand. Crude oil for December delivery rose 81 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $33.76 a barrel today on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

http://www.bakersfield.com/oil/Story/238772p-228634c.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), October 25, 2000