By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Sept. 17 -- A Lundberg gasoline price survey has found no evidence of price gouging following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, DC, last week.
The survey found that nationwide gasoline prices increased just 1¢/gal between Sept. 7 and Sept. 13, Tribly Lundberg said.
The Lundberg Survey, Camarillo, Calif., updated its gasoline pump price survey on Sept. in response to official and media allegations of "price gouging."
Lundberg said, "The only widespread exploitation of petroleum prices has not been at the hands of gasoline retailers but those making or disseminating unjustified accusations. Many politicians and officials are bent on scapegoating and prosecuting gasoline retailers."
In the Sept. 13 survey the average US pump price for regular gasoline was $1.5436/gal, up from $1.5326 on Sept. 7. The prices were for self-serve regular or the lowest available price at stations surveyed.
Lundberg said the survey showed prices had increased at some stations and dropped at others, "a perfectly normal market condition."
She added, "The small increase of barely more than a penny cannot be attributed to the terrorist attacks, since prices had been rising prior to Sept. 11." Prices rose 5.26¢/gal between Aug. 24 and Sept. 7, she said.
Lundberg added, "The gasoline market's upward trend may have been arrested by oil refiners seeking to avoid those very accusations of gouging. The finger-pointing toward gasoline retailers and the oil industry is a misguided response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11."