U.S. gasoline up 9 cents, highest price in 7 weeks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. retail gasoline prices rose by nearly a dime over the latest week, reaching their highest level in seven weeks, the Energy Department said on Monday.

The national price for regular unleaded gasoline climbed 9 cents from the previous week to $2.65 a gallon, down a $1.16 from a year earlier, the Energy Information Administration said in its weekly survey of service stations.

Prices at the pump have risen over the past three weeks as higher crude oil prices have pushed up costs for refiners to make gasoline.

Crude oil settled down 33 cents at $70.60 a barrel in futures trading on Monday at the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The average price of gasoline rose in every region of the country.

Gasoline was most expensive on the west coast at $2.95 a gallon, up 12.5 cents from the prior week. San Francisco had the highest big city gasoline price at $3.06, up 12 cents.

The Gulf Coast had the lowest regional price at $2.52, up 9.1 cents. Houston had the cheapest price at $2.47, up 9.3 cents.

The EIA also reported gasoline prices were up 7.6 cents at $2.60 in Boston; up 6.5 cents at $2.74 in Chicago; up 10.8 cents at $2.62 in Cleveland; up 7.8 cents at $2.51 in Denver; up 12.5 cents at $3.05 in Los Angeles; up 6.8 cents at $2.71 in Miami; up 7.2 cents at $2.67 in New York City and up 11.8 cents at $2.83 in Seattle.

Separately, the average price for diesel rose 7.5 cents to $2.63 a gallon, down $1.73 from a year earlier.

The Central Atlantic region had the most expensive diesel at $2.76 a gallon, up 8.4 cents from a week ago. The Rocky Mountain region had the cheapest diesel at $2.57, up 3.6 cents.

(Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by David Gregorio)