Oil prices pushing price at the pump

New York -- The surging price of crude oil is pumping up the price of gasoline, which has risen more than 25 cents per gallon in a month, Monday figures show.

Crude oil prices have settled at over $100 a barrel, almost $20 a barrel above prices a month ago. The national average price of gasoline in the United States in that time has jumped from $2.96 per gallon to a near-record $3.222 per gallon Monday.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the price of crude oil dropped 70 cents in early morning trading to $104.45 per barrel.

The price of heating oil dropped 0.0178 cents per gallon to $4.9292 per gallon.

Reformulated blendstock gasoline prices dropped 0.021 cents to $2.6733 per gallon.

Natural gas prices also declined, slipping 0.073 cents to 49.696 cents per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report said the national average price of a gallon of unleaded reached $3.222 per gallon, up from Sunday's average price of $3.215 per gallon.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.