PROVIDENCE – Gasoline prices in Rhode Island and Massachusetts have jumped 11 and 10 cents, respectively, driven up on news of an increase in global demand, AAA Southern New England reported Tuesday.
The auto club’s Oct. 12 survey, a day later than normal due to Columbus Day, found the average price of self-serve, unleaded regular at Ocean State stations was $2.80 per gallon, up 11 cents from last week and 16 cents over the last two weeks.
Crude oil for November delivery lost 56 cents to $81.65 a barrel at 11:01 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg News reported. The contract reached a five-month high of $84.43 last week. Prices have risen 11 percent in the past year.
“Traders are reducing their positions, waiting for the OPEC meeting,” said Richard Ilczyszyn, a market strategist at Lind-Waldock, to Bloomberg. Oil ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, gathering in Vienna this week before an Oct. 14 meeting, signaled they won’t alter their existing output targets.
On Tuesday, OPEC raised its forecast for 2010 global oil demand by 100,000 barrels a day to 85.59 million. That compares with 84.46 million last year.
Global demand is forecast to rise 1.2 percent to 86.64 million barrels a day next year, OPEC said, according to Bloomberg.
“OPEC is in a comfortable position to do nothing,” said Kaha Kiknavelidze, a managing partner at London-based Rioni Capital Partners LLP, which specializes in emerging markets.
Also influencing oil prices were concerns over the U.S. dollar, which rose for a second day against its peers after touching a 15-year low against the yen on Monday.
In its survey, AAA found prices in Rhode Island ranging from $2.69 to $2.89 per gallon for unleaded regular. At $2.80, the average price per gallon in Rhode Island is 1 cent below the average price nationwide of $2.81.
A year ago, gas prices in Rhode Island stood at $2.50 per gallon.
Prices also soared in Massachusetts in Tuesday’s survey. The AAA survey found the average price of self-serve, unleaded regular was $2.73 per gallon in the Bay State, up 10 cents from last week.
At stations in Rhode Island this week, the survey found average self-serve prices of $2.91 per gallon for midgrade unleaded, $3.03 for premium unleaded gasoline, and $3.11 for diesel.
For more information, visit AAA.com
