US retail gasoline price down 6.4 cents: survey - Yahoo! News

New York (Reuters) - U.S. retail gasoline prices fell 6.4 cents over the last week to $2.88 a gallon, as crude oil costs fell sharply, the government said on Monday.
Drivers are still paying 76 cents per gallon more at the pump than they were a year ago heading into the Memorial Day holiday weekend -- the traditional start of the summer vacation period.
The new drop in pump prices could be short lived, following a sharp rise on Monday in crude oil futures at the New York Mercantile Exchange, where the expiring contract for delivering oil in June settled 70 cents higher at $69.23 a barrel. Crude for delivery in July was up 67 cents to $69.96.
The price of crude oil accounts for more than half the cost of making gasoline.
Earlier in the day the Federal Trade Commission released results of its latest investigation into gasoline prices, finding that last year's sharp spike in fuel costs after Hurricane Katrina was not due to manipulation by oil companies to constrain refining capacity or restrict supplies.
The EIA is forecasting this summer's price for regular unleaded gasoline will average $2.71 a gallon, up 34 cents from last summer, which would mean a further decline in pump costs.
The West Coast had the most expensive regional gasoline, with the price down 5.3 cents to $3.20 a gallon, based on the federal Energy Information Administration's weekly survey of service stations. San Francisco topped the survey of cities, with gasoline down 1.1 cents at $3.32 a gallon.
The Midwest states had the cheapest gasoline at $2.76 a gallon, down 10.9 cents. Among major cities, Cleveland had the best pump price at $2.76, down 13.6 cents.
Separately, the average diesel fuel price paid by truckers fell 3.2 cents over the last week to $2.89 a gallon, up 73 cents from a year earlier, the EIA said.
Truckers on the West Coast paid the most for diesel at $3.18 a gallon, down 1.7 cents. The Gulf Coast region had the cheapest diesel at $2.80 a gallon, down 2.8 cents.