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Gasoline prices nationally have hit a two-year high, nearing $3 a gallon just ahead of the surge in travel during the Christmas holiday, though Utah increases are tame by comparison.

Retail gas prices have been rising during the past month, in part because of an increase in crude oil prices tied to a higher demand in China and a weaker dollar.

The average national price rose over the past week to $2.98 a gallon, from $2.90, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

Drivers on the West Coast are paying an average of $3.21 a gallon. Gas is $3.09 a gallon in New England, $3.05 in the mid-Atlantic states, $2.98 around the Great Lakes and $2.82 in the Southwest.

In Utah drivers are paying an average of $2.82 a gallon for unleaded regular gasoline. Gasoline prices in Utah typically decline during the winter months as drivers cut back on their time on the road because of colder weather.

A 10 percent rise in crude oil prices in the past three weeks, to as much as $90 a barrel, has been particularly onerous to a few regions of the country, such as parts of Long Island and New England, that still depend on heating oil. On Friday, benchmark oil lost 58 cents, to settle at $87.79 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

"We will have a spring rally that will take us to between $3.10 and $3.50," Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, predicted, referring to the national average at the pump.

Oil prices have remained substantially lower than three summers ago when crude reached $147 a barrel and American drivers were paying $4 a gallon.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which meets in Quito, Ecuador, on Saturday, is not expected to change crude production quotas that were set two years ago. —

Price comparisons

Utah

Friday • $2.82

Week ago • $2.81

Month ago • $2.84

Year ago • $2.61

U.S.

Friday • $2.98

Week ago • $2.90

Month ago • $2.86

Year ago • $2.63

Source: AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report