CRUDE OIL PRICE, GREATER DEMAND MEAN PUMP JUMP

April has been a roller-coaster month at the nation's gasoline pumps.

Three weeks ago, motorists in Cape Girardeau could fill their own tanks with unleaded regular for less than a dollar a gallon.

Today, the prices for the same fuel ranges from $1.04 to $1.09 at the majority of city's service stations.

A check of 15 stations Friday revealed four with self-serve prices at $1.04 a gallon, eight at $1.09, one at $1.08, one at 99.9 and one at 98.9.

"Prices have jumped up and down during the month," said Michael Right, a spokesman for AAA Auto Club of Missouri in St. Louis. "We had a tremendous jump in prices in mid-April, but they have moderated some over the past week."

St. Louis and Kansas City gasoline prices jumped as much as six cents a gallon before tapering off a couple cents per gallon over the past week, he said.

"St. Louis prices Friday averaged about $1.04 for self-serve regular unleaded," Right said, while Kansas City prices averaged a cent more.

The biggest one-day gain of the year came April 19 when all major stations received steep increase.

Price hikes of three to five cents occurred at Conoco, Citgo, Exxon, BP, Shell, Amoco, Mobile, Texaco stations.

Every supplier raised prices, according to Trilby Lundberg, who publishes the twice monthly Lundberg Survey, a survey of 10,000 service station gasoline prices.

Wholesale prices during the month have reached more than 60 cents a gallon. Add gasoline taxes and transportation costs and the pump prices jump.

Every section of the country has experienced price hikes, from 3.7 cents a gallon in Little Rock, Ark., to 4.2 cents in Savannah, Ga., to 3.5 cents at Lake Charles, La.

The $1.04 to $1.09 pump-your-own unleaded prices here are still under the Missouri state average. The state average for self-service regular unleaded this week is about $1.10.

The national average price of gasoline at self-serve pumps during the week, including taxes, was 115.76 cents for unleaded regular, 125.88 cents for unleaded mid-grade, 134.26 cents for unleaded supreme.

Gasoline prices are up 10 to 11 cents from a year ago, Right said.

He explains the difference.

"Crude oil prices are up about $4 a barrel over a year ago," he said. That translates into about a 15-cent difference in wholesale prices.

A year ago, the wholesale price of gasoline was about 47 cents a gallon. A week ago, it was 62 cents.

Another factor in the price of gasoline is motorist demands, Right said.

"This is the season when motorists start driving more," he said. "Traditionally, the higher demand for fuel, the higher the price."

Lundberg agrees.

"We are coming into a higher demand season," he said. Prices started going up a month ago because crude oil prices are up.