Retail gasoline price at record $4.04/gln: Government

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The government confirmed on Monday what most U.S. drivers already knew as they emptied their wallets while filling their tanks: the national average price for gasoline now tops $4 a gallon for the first time.

The national price for regular, self-service gasoline jumped 6.3 cents over the last week to a record $4.04 a gallon, up 96 cents from a year go, the federal Energy Information Administration said in its weekly survey of service stations.

Pump prices are rising because of expensive crude oil, which reached a record high of just over $139 a barrel last week.

The EIA survey found gasoline was the most expensive on the West Coast at $4.33 a gallon, up 16 cents. Los Angeles had the highest city price at $4.42, up 21 cents.

The Gulf Coast states had the lowest regional price at $3.91 a gallon, up 6.3 cents. Houston had the lowest pump price, up 7.7 cents at $3.88.

Separately, the EIA said the average retail price for diesel fuel fell for the second week in a row, declining 1.5 cents to $4.69 a gallon, but still up $1.90 from a year ago.

The most expensive diesel was found in the central Atlantic states, down 2.8 cents at $4.88 a gallon. The cheapest diesel was in the Midwest region, also down 2.8 cents at $4.62.

(Reporting by Tom Doggett; Editing by David Gregorio)