Gas prices at the pump, according to national averages per gallon of unleaded gasoline, rose to $3.077 per gallon which is up from Tuesday's $3.073, AAA said. Supporting the rise in cost is news out of the crude oil industry.
February delivery light, sweet crude oil lost ground overnight, prices falling less than $89 per barrel in New York in a two-day retreat from a two-year high.
Commodities fell soundly in the previous trading session as traders returned from vacations and reset their positions. The two-year peak, at $92.58 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, was not exactly an anomaly, given the 6 percent price rise in December. But it was supported by two-weeks of light trading before and following the Christmas holiday.
On Wednesday, February contract crude oil lost $1.05, falling to $88.33 per barrel. Heating oil prices shed 2.04 cents to $2.4861 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline dropped 2.9 cents to $2.385 per gallon. Henry Hub natural gas prices dropped 7.9 cents to $4.59 per million British thermal units.
