* Average gas price at US pumps rose 11.5 cents/gallon
* Consumers demand less gas as prices rise
* Oil prices may have hit plateau; gas could recede-survey
By Martinne Geller
NEW YORK(Reuters) - The average price for a
gallon of gasoline rose 11.5 cents in the past two weeks, but
the lift was smaller than in prior weeks, and price increases
may be near an end, a widely followed industry analyst said
Sunday.
The national average for self-serve regular unleaded gas
was $3.88 a gallon on April 22, up 11.53 cents per gallon from
April 8, according to the nationwide Lundberg Survey.
The price was still below the July 11, 2008, all-time high
of $4.11, and survey editor Trilby Lundberg said there was a
"very good chance" that gasoline prices would not rise to meet
that level.
"There is some possibility that prices might already be
peaking," Lundberg told Reuters, citing the slip in crude oil
prices in recent weeks. "It would be going out on a limb to
make any prediction now ... but if there was a plateau, this
might be the end or close to the end of gasoline price
increases."
Lundberg said that gasoline demand in the United States has
weakened as the price has increased, due largely to continued
unemployment.
A gallon of gas cost $3.765 on April 8, Lundberg said, a
rise of more than 19 cents from the prior survey in mid-March.
Gasoline prices have increased by $1.19 in the past seven
months and 70 cents in just the past nine weeks, Lundberg said,
citing "world demand for crude oil, the weakening dollar and
the Middle East/North Africa crisis culminating in civil war in
Libya".
At $4.27 a gallon, Chicago had the highest average price
for self-serve regular unleaded gas in the lower 48 states,
while the lowest price was $3.54 a gallon in Tuscon, Arizona.
(Reporting by Martinne Geller; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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