As Crude prices fall, US Gas prices rise for 50th straight day

Crude inventories fell last week by 3.9 million barrels, or 1.1 percent, to 357.7 million barrels, the report said.

SHOOT: Looks ominous, but demand tends to rise in the summer months anyway. That said, an inventory fall of 1.1% is huge.

clipped from finance.yahoo.com NEW YORK (AP) -- Retail gas prices climbed for the 50th straight day Wednesday, the longest streak in records dating to 1996, even as benchmark crude fell for the fourth day in a row. Historically, filling station prices tend to rise during the summer as millions of vacationing Americans pour onto the highways. A surge in crude prices during the past few months and less production from the refiners that make gasoline has added even more pressure on prices. Pump prices added a half cent overnight to a new national average of $2.679 a gallon, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. A gallon of regular gas has jumped nearly 37 cents in a month. That's still cheaper than a gallon of gas three years ago at this point in June. Demand for gasoline was up 1.1 percent from last year, averaging nearly 9.3 million barrels a day over the four weeks ended June 12.