The average price for a gallon of gasoline in the United States rose 2.99 cents in the last two weeks and was likely to remain steady for now, according to an industry analyst.

The national average for self-serve, regular unleaded gas was $3.11 a gallon on Jan. 21, compared with two weeks ago when the price was $3.08, according to the nationwide Lundberg survey of some 2,500 gas stations.

The rate of increase roughly matches that of crude oil, which rose $1.08 to $89.11 per barrel during the survey period — but that rate of increase has slowed in recent weeks.

"The rate of increase has been slowing dramatically. In fact, retail gasoline prices might not increase further," survey editor Trilby Lundberg Lundberg said.

The price of gas rose 9.32 cents during the previous survey and 7.59 cents in the period before that.

"There is a glut of gasoline right now. It will all depend on what crude oil prices do next," Lundberg said. "Crude oil price increases of late reflect both the weakening dollar and some oil demand recovery in various parts of the world -- but the winter is the high oil demand season because so much of the world depends on home heating oil."

The $3.11 per-gallon price is the highest since Oct. 10, 2008, when gasoline in the United States was $3.31 per gallon. It is nearly 39 cents above its year-ago price, but is below the July 11, 2008, all-time high of $4.11.

At $3.37 a gallon, San Francisco had the highest average price for self-serve, regular unleaded gas, while the lowest price was $2.74 a gallon in Salt Lake City during the survey period ending Jan. 21.