NEW YORK (AP) — The big spike in gasoline prices is just about over, but it's too late to bring much relief for Labor Day weekend.
The national average price for gasoline inched up just 0.3 cents Friday to $3.83 per gallon, ending a string of dramatic increases caused by Hurricane Isaac.
"We're in the ninth inning of this," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service.
Isaac, now slowly disintegrating over the middle of the country, forced several Gulf Coast refineries to shut down or operate at lower rates. This is deprived markets of millions of gallons of gasoline and sent prices sharply higher.
The storm pushed the national average gasoline price up 10 cents per gallon in one week, including a 5 cent gain Wednesday that was the biggest one-day gain since February of 2011.