U.S. gasoline rises 31 cents in month

MIAMI, March 5 (UPI) -- U.S. gasoline pump prices have jumped about 31 cents a gallon in the past month and the reasons are unclear, AAA said.

It might be because refineries switched to making more-expensive warm-weather fuels from winter-weather fuels, spokesman Geoff Sundstrom in Orlando, Fla., said. But the surge arrived earlier than usual this year, he told The Miami Herald.

Other industry observers point out crude oil prices have risen a couple of dollars a barrel in the past month.

"I'll have to start taking the bus if this continues," Samuel Maldonado told the Herald as he filled his red minivan with $2.61-a-gallon regular gas.

The U.S. unleaded average gasoline price is $2.481 a gallon, AAA said Monday. A month ago it was $2.170 a gallon, AAA said. The year-ago average was $2.284 a gallon.