Las Vegas gasoline prices down slightly from month ago

While Las Vegas gasoline prices have dropped slightly in the past month and pumps nationwide reflect a 22-cents-per-gallon drop over this time last year, crude oil climbed to almost $95 a barrel Monday, fueled mainly by financial tensions in Cyprus.

Las Vegans paid an average of $3.75 a gallon for regular gasoline Monday, three pennies less than the price one month ago, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

While substantially higher than the sub-$3 a gallon price motorists paid just a few months ago, the price is lower than the $3.93 per gallon they paid a year ago.

Gasoline prices are closely tied to the price of crude oil, which rose to a five-week high after Europe patched up the latest problem in its financial crisis. Benchmark crude for May delivery rose $1.10 to finish at $94.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That’s the highest New York closing since Feb. 20.

Cyprus secured $13 billion of rescue loans early Monday, just hours before a deadline set by the European Central Bank. The bank had threatened to halt emergency aid to the country’s banks if no agreement was reached by today. A collapse in Cyprus would have threatened the euro currency bloc.

U.S. gasoline prices are at the lowest level since the middle of February. Nationwide, the average price for a gallon is $3.67, down 22 cents from last year.

Local prices are nowhere near the record for gasoline, which was set June 20, 2008, when the price of regular unleaded here reached $4.27 a gallon.

In other futures trading, brent crude rose 51 cents to $108.17 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London, and wholesale gasoline was flat at $3.06 a gallon.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.