WASHINGTON — The average retail price for regular gasoline in the
U.S. jumped $0.056 cents to $3.11 a gallon over the past week, the
Energy Information Administration (EIA) said earlier this week, sparked
by record high oil costs that topped $100 a barrel last week, Reuters
reported. The national average price rose to its highest level in two
months, and was $0.80 cents above a year ago, the report stated, citing
the EIA survey.

The up-tick in price is the result of expensive crude oil,
which reached $100.09 a barrel last Thursday, and have since retreated
settling at just over $95 a barrel on Monday at the New York Mercantile
Exchange, Reuters reported.

"We confront economic challenges, from the downturn of the
housing sector, to high energy prices, to painful adjustments in some
of the financial markets," Reuters cited President Bush at saying in
Chicago on Monday.

Gas was most expensive on the West Coast, where it rose 2.9
cents to $3.25 a gallon, according to the latest report by the EIA. San
Francisco had the highest gasoline cost among major cities, at $3.43,
up 3.6 cents, Reuters reported.

The Rocky Mountain region had the lowest price at $2.95 a
gallon, up 2.9 cents, while Denver had the cheapest pump price at $2.84
a gallon, up 5.5 cents, according to the report.

Meanwhile, consumer group the Foundation for Taxpayer and
Consumer Rights (FTCR) issued a statement calling Congress to act
against the high energy prices.

"Today’s rising energy prices as the U.S. slides into recession
are not a slow-moving disaster, they’re a dive out the high-rise
window," Judy Dugan, research director of FTCR, said in a statement.
"Congress can’t sit idle until the splatter hits the sidewalk."

The organization asked Congress to call immediate hearings on
energy price manipulation to question energy traders from hedge funds
and oil companies. It added oil companies that reaped benefits of crude
oil at $90 per barrel prices are pushing to match that when making gas.