Gas prices will inch up 4 cents

A three-week trend in which the state's wholesale price caps on gasoline reached their lowest points of 2006 is over for now.

Price caps for next week, set yesterday by the state Public Utilities Commission, are going up 4 cents.

The caps, which represent the maximum price at which gas can be sold at wholesale in Hawaii, had come down 29 cents in the past three weeks.

By Monday, if wholesalers charged up to the maximum allowed and dealers added an assumed markup of 16 cents, prices for regular gas are forecast to range from $2.57 a gallon on Oahu to $2.94 a gallon on Lanai.

Meanwhile, yesterday's statewide average for regular unleaded was $2.77 a gallon, 51 cents higher than the national average, according to AAA's Fuel Gauge Report, which bases its survey on credit card transactions from the previous day.

California had the next-highest average, $2.50 a gallon for regular.

The increase in Hawaii's price caps follows a global increase in the price of crude oil in the past week.