Gas Prices Trickle Lower Except on Coasts

Drivers on either coast may be questioning the conventional wisdom that gas prices fall after Labor Day.

Motorists in California paid an average of $4.232 per gallon Wednesday. That's 45 cents higher than the national average and exceeded only by Hawaii among the 50 states.

Prices in New York, Connecticut and New Hampshire are at or near highs for the year. They're also about 40 cents higher than a year ago.

Gas prices have trickled lower in most parts of the U.S. after a late-summer surge. Oil prices have fallen since mid-September and demand for gasoline is down.

But refinery and pipeline problems have shrunk supplies of gasoline on the coasts and driven up prices in states that typically have some of the highest gas prices in the U.S. anyway.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)