Gas prices fall nationwide more than 3 cents a gallon

CAMARILLO, Calif. - Gasoline prices fell more than 3 cents a gallon nationwide in the past two weeks as crude oil prices slipped and demand decreased, an analyst said Sunday.

The average price of all grades and taxes was $1.58 per gallon, down 3.37 cents from the previous survey, conducted Sept. 22, according to the Lundberg Survey of 10,000 stations nationwide.

Analyst Trilby Lundberg said prices declined in almost all cities, with some exceptions in the West. In Los Angeles, self-serve regular gasoline averaged $1.72, up 2 cents per gallon, she said. San Francisco still had the high at $1.95.

Lundberg attributed the overall decline to the nearly 4-cent decrease in crude oil prices and seasonal demand, which typically falls after Labor Day.

The seasonal change in anti-smog regulations also helped lower prices, Lundberg said.

''A higher maximum vapor pressure allowed by federal anti-smog regulations allows refiners both a slight increase in gasoline supply and a slight decrease in gasoline manufacturing costs,'' she said.

It is still too early to know the actual impact of President Clinton's decision to tap 30 million barrels of oil from emergency stockpiles, she said, ''because there are other national and international factors at the same time.''

The national weighted average price of gasoline, including taxes, at self-serve pumps Friday was $1.54 for regular unleaded, $1.64 for midgrade and $1.72 for premium. At full-service pumps, the average was $1.86 for regular unleaded, $1.95 for midgrade and $2.03 for premium.