Gas Prices Ease but Stay Near Records

NEW YORK - Retail gasoline prices slipped further below $3 a gallon Friday, extending a slow retreat from post-Katrina records as more Gulf Coast refineries and pipelines came back to life.

The national average for unleaded regular stood at $2.93 a gallon, down about 13 cents from the Labor Day peak, according to the AAA motor club. Prices remain roughly a dollar higher than a year ago.

Four refineries knocked out by the storm — together about 5 percent of the nation's capacity — were still shut, but the Colonial and Plantation pipelines that feed the East Coast were again running near normal volumes, the Energy Department said.

"The panic phase is over, but the repair phase has a long way to go," said an oil analyst in New York. "Expect prices at the pump to drift down in cents, not dimes."

The price spike has triggered investigations. At least 35 states are probing alleged price gouging, and the Federal Trade Commission has opened its own inquiry into whether refiners manipulated supplies. Oil executives, summoned to a Senate hearing last week, denied wrongdoing and blamed market forces.

High fuel costs are rippling through the economy. Airlines added fuel surcharges before Delta and Northwest filed for bankruptcy this week; delivery companies and taxi fleets in several cities have tacked on fees; and school districts are weighing whether to shorten bus routes.

President Bush has urged Americans to conserve fuel by driving less, an unusual plea from a president who once made an energy policy built on expanding supply.

In energy futures trading, crude oil slipped below $64 a barrel, well off its post-Katrina peak above $70. Heating oil and natural gas remained elevated on fears of a tight winter for Gulf-dependent supplies.