Supply problems still causing higher prices

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Monday, March 10, 2003 | 9:42 a.m.

CAMARILLO, Calif. -- Supply problems in California have helped push up the average price of gasoline by 5 cents per gallon over the past two weeks, an analyst says.

The average weighted price for gas, including all grades and taxes, was about $1.75 per gallon Friday, according to the Lundberg Survey of 8,000 stations nationwide. The price is nearing $1.77, the survey's record high of May 18, 2001.

Analyst Trilby Lundberg said the increase of just over a nickel was nearly entirely due to California refineries switching over to corn-based additives from MTBE, an additive that is blamed for polluting drinking water after it leaked from storage tanks.