New high for gasoline prices, but not for oil stocks

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Times Staff Writer Nancy Rivera Brooks writes:

The pain at the pump worsened in the last week, with fuel prices setting records in California and nationwide.

The U.S. average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline rose 3.1 cents to an all-time high of $3.290, according to the Energy Department’s weekly survey of more than 800 service stations. The week before, the average had fallen 2.5 cents. The latest nationwide average is about 58 cents higher than a year ago.

Gasoline was most expensive in California, where drivers paid a record $3.608 a gallon on average, up about half a penny after edging two-tenths of a cent lower the week before. The state average is up 38 cents from this time last year.

‘This unprecedented rise so early in the year signals more energy inflation and deeper consumer pain later in the spring,’ said Consumer Watchdog, the Santa Monica-based group formerly called the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.

The group called on Congress to increase oversight of energy traders and to withdraw $1.8 billion a year ‘in unjustified taxpayer subsidies to oil companies.’

The potential good news here: Crude oil prices have struggled to regain momentum since peaking at $110.33 a barrel on March 13. Today crude futures for May delivery slid $4.04, or 3.8%, to close at $101.58 a barrel in New York.

It may be cold comfort to consumers, but energy-company shareholders didn’t see any windfall in the first quarter: The XOI index of 13 major energy stocks tumbled 14.2% in the three months, which was worse than the 9.9% drop in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. Exxon Mobil Corp. fell 9.7% in the quarter to end at $84.58 today. ConocoPhillips dropped 13.7% to $76.21 and Occidental Petroleum was down 5% to $73.17.