Gas Prices Rise for 11th Straight Week
April 17, 2006 — -- For the 11th straight week, gas prices have inched up and are now nearing record highs.
The U.S. Energy Department said that the average gallon of regular unleaded is now selling for $2.88, up 7 cents from last week.
That's just 19 cents short of the record high of $3.07, not adjusted for inflation, set in September 2005.
Americans have not seen prices this high since late August of last year, when gas hit $2.92 a gallon. But that was at the height of the summer driving season.
Right now, average prices are 3 percent higher than they were at this time last year.
Those living in the Gulf Coast pay the least, at $2.76 a gallon, while -- as usual -- California residents pay the most, at $3.31 a gallon.
A new ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 67 percent of Americans say gasoline prices are causing financial hardship in their households -- up 10 points from May 2006, and the second-highest in polls going back to early 2000.
Just more than half of those experiencing financial hardship say it's "serious" hardship. Those at the bottom of the income ladder are hit hardest -- eight in 10 of those with less than $35,000 in household income report financial hardship because of gas prices, compared with fewer than half of those in $75,000-plus households.
Oil prices have remained high, closing at $63.61 a barrel in New York trading Monday.
With national stockpiles of gasoline falling for the past several months, prices are likely to climb as Americans rev up for the summer driving season in the next few weeks.
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