LOS ANGELES, July 3 (UPI) -- The Fourth of July holiday got under way with gasoline prices holding at relatively steady levels.
Wednesday's average nationwide price of a gallon of regular at the pump was estimated by AAA at $1.398, about the same as it was on Tuesday and a fraction of a cent lower from the average a month ago.
Lower crude prices and higher inventories of crude and gasoline held the pump price well below last July 3 when the average was $1.502 per gallon.
Gasoline prices tend to rise just before the three big summer holidays in anticipation of millions of motorists hitting the road for the long weekend, which is four days this year.
"This year, the Fourth of July holiday falls on a Thursday giving consumers an opportunity for a long holiday weekend, and that may have some influence on the decision to travel," said AAA Chicago spokesman Mark Bruno.
The auto club estimated that 36.7 million Americans would travel at least 50 miles from home during the holiday compared to 36.4 million last year.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration found that the highest increase in prices this week occurred in the Midwest where the average price of $1.399 was 2.7 cents above the previous week and 7.9 cents above the same period a year ago.
California, with its statewide requirement for clean-burning reformulated gasoline, had the highest prices in the nation at an average of $1.618, unchanged from the previous week but a hefty 24 cents under last year.
The lowest prices in the nation were found in the Gulf Coast and Southeast at just above $1.29 per gallon.
Whether or not gasoline prices remain steady through Labor Day will depend on how much demand there is during the remainder of the summer, and whether crude supplies continue uninterrupted.
OPEC has not indicated it will make any adjustments of its crude output when they next meet on Sept. 18.
Meanwhile, non-OPEC member Russia has commenced shipping crude directly to the United States. The first cargo of oil destined for the United States arrived aboard the tanker Astro Lupus off the coast of Texas Wednesday and will be off-loaded by smaller vessels for transfer to terminals in Baytown and Beaumont.
Russia is the world's second-largest oil exporter, but the economics of moving oil from Russia's interior have made Russian crude unable to compete with the Middle East and other exporters.
Analysts from the EIA, however, said improvements in Russia's output and improvements in the efficiency of its pipeline system had the potential to make Russian crude shipments to North America possible.
The shipment, sent to the Gulf of Mexico by the Russian oil company YUKOS, was characterized as an experiment to see if the United States could become a regular customer of Russia. The price of the cargo was not revealed, but at least one oil industry publication said YUKOS planned another 2 million barrel shipment to the United States next month for delivery to two unidentified buyers.
"As we expand our production, the United States can become a new market for YUKOS and Russia," Bruce Misamore, YUKOS' chief financial officer and deputy chairman of its management committee, told a Houston news conference Wednesday. "While many logistical challenges remain, we believe that these pilot shipments will put us on the path to creating an efficient system of providing a stable source of non-OPEC crude oil for the U.S."
