Nevada gas prices buck national trend

By Tim Richardson

Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008 | 4:43 a.m.

Gas prices have spiked nationwide, but they haven't budged in the valley.

The price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline today in the Las Vegas area is $3.624, which is down 19 cents from a month ago. The price has gone down a fraction of a penny in the past two days, according to auto club AAA.

On the national level, it's a different story. A gallon of regular gasoline rose nearly 17 cents from Friday to $3.854, AAA reported.

Gas prices in Nevada generally have stayed above the national average, but at $3.677 a gallon statewide, only nine states are paying less for gas than residents of the Silver State. Gas prices are off 65.5 cents from their record high of $4.279 three months ago in Las Vegas, although prices are down an average of only 26 cents nationwide from the all-time high seen this past summer.

AAA reported that 12 states have average prices today above the $4 mark. The highest average price outside of Alaska and Hawaii can be found in Michigan, at $4.186 a gallon, while New Jersey has the lowest, at $3.536.

Hurricane Ike missed the largest concentrations of oil and gas refineries in the Gulf, but at least 14 Texas refineries closed before the storm made landfall last week. Ike also destroyed at least a dozen production platforms and drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico — though only a tiny fraction of those there — and production is still shut down in the critical region.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.