Survey: U.S. gas prices fall 12 cents per gallon

CAMARILLO, Calif. - A national survey reveals the average price of regular gasoline has plunged another 12 cents a gallon over the past two weeks, to $2.72.

Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday that the decline continues a nationwide trend.

Lundberg says lower crude oil prices are continuing to drive prices down, along with an abundant oil supply and the rising value of the U.S. dollar.

The highest-priced gas in the Lower 48 states was found in San Francisco at $3.04 a gallon. The lowest was in Albuquerque at $2.38 a gallon.

California's lowest average was in Sacramento, $2.80 a gallon.

The average price for midgrade gas in the U.S. is $2.96. For premium it's $3.12.

The survey is based on information obtained at about 2,500 filling stations by the Camarillo, California-based company.

Retail gasoline fell after crude oil had the biggest one-day decline in more than three years on Nov. 28, a day after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided not to reduce crude oil production in the face of falling prices caused by booming output in North America.

West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark priced in Cushing, Oklahoma, declined $10.67, or 14 percent, to $65.84 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in the two weeks to Dec. 5. It fell $7.54 on Nov. 28, the largest one-day drop since May 5, 2011.

Prices have fallen 39 percent since peaking this year on June 20. OPEC members, who produce about a third of the world's oil, took no action on output limits at a Nov. 27 meeting in Vienna.

U.S. oil output rose to 9.08 million barrels a day the week ended Nov. 28, the highest level in weekly Energy Information Administration data dating back to 1983. U.S. production has increased 64 percent in five years as companies have used horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to tap into hydrocarbon-rich layers of underground shale rock.

Refineries processed 16.4 million barrels of oil a day in the week ended Nov. 28, a seasonal record in Energy Information Administration records dating back to 1989.

Gasoline stockpiles grew 2.14 million barrels, or 1 percent, in the seven days ended Nov. 28 to 208.6 million, EIA data show. Demand over the four weeks ended Nov. 28 reached 9.22 million barrels a day, the highest level for the end of November since 2007.

Gasoline futures on the Nymex fell 28.31 cents, or 14 percent, to $1.7734 a gallon in the two weeks ended Dec. 5.