AAA Texas: Weekend Gas Watch; Prices Down, But Head Up in Path of Hurricane Rita.

HOUSTON -- Gas prices plummeted around the state over the past week, but ticked upward over the last two days in areas that are being evacuated in advance of Hurricane Rita's landfall, according to AAA Texas' Weekend Gas Watch.

The statewide average price for regular self-serve dropped to $2.667 a gallon -- down 14.8 cents after another 12-cent decrease last week. Although gas prices in Beaumont, Houston and Galveston are lower than last week, they are starting to go up again this week as evacuation orders pushed up demand.

"Gulf Coast refineries are once again being shuttered temporarily because of the storm, and those closures will likely cause gas prices statewide to head upward again, but we don't yet know how big the impact will be," said Carol Thorp, spokesperson for AAA Texas.

The national average for regular self-serve gasoline is $2.915 a gallon -- a weekly drop decrease of 11.5 cents.

AAA Texas' Weekend Gas Watch monitors the average price of gasoline at popular destinations for automobile trips.

Average Daily Prices as of 12:01 A.M., September 23, 2005:

Area                  Weekly          Weekly           Record   2004
            9/23/05   Change 9/16/05  Change  9/9/05    High   Average
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National    $2.755    -16.0   $2.915  -11.5   $3.030    $3.057  $1.837
                       cents           cents           (9/5/05)
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State       $2.667    -14.8   $2.815  -12.4   $2.939    $2.964  $1.741
                       cents           cents           (9/4/05)
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Austin-San  $2.649    -16.6   $2.815   -8.7   $2.902    $2.918  $1.713
Marcos                 cents           cents           (9/6/05)
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Beaumont    $2.640    -13.3   $2.773  -11.6   $2.889    $2.930  $1.709
                       cents           cents           (9/4/05)
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Corpus      $2.560    -20.0   $2.760   -6.7   $2.827    $2.929  $1.668
Christi                cents           cents           (9/3/05)
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Dallas      $2.706    -15.4   $2.860  -13.4   $2.994    $3.019  $1.758
                       cents           cents           (9/4/05)
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Ft. Worth   $2.687    -14.3   $2.830  -14.7   $2.977    $3.012  $1.738
                       cents           cents           (9/4/05)
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Galveston/  $2.785     -8.5   $2.870   -9.7   $2.967    $2.997  $1.734
Texas City             cents           cents           (9/4/05)
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Houston     $2.730    -12.6   $2.856   -9.9   $2.955    $2.971  $1.722
                       cents           cents           (9/6/05)
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San Antonio $2.580    -19.0   $2.770  -11.0   $2.880    $2.909  $1.681
                       cents           cents           (9/4/05)
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