Gas prices surpass highs of early '80s

Average gasoline prices in the Boston area in April topped the prices of the energy crisis of the early 1980s, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said.

The average price of all types of gasoline hit $3.34 a gallon in April, about 7 cents more than the inflation-adjusted price of March 1981, when prices peaked in the aftermath of the Iranian revolution. The average price of unleaded regular in the region, however, remained below the 1981 record. In 2008 dollars, unleaded regular cost $3.45 cents a gallon in 1981, compared to $3.31 cents in April, the BLS said.

Boston gasoline prices, however, were lower than the national average in April. Nationally, the average price of all types of gas hit $3.49 a gallon, 15 cents more than Boston and 12 cents above the inflation adjusted price in March 1981. Unleaded regular prices average $3.44, 13 cents more than Boston and 4 cents above the inflation-adjusted 1981 price.

Prices have continued to rise in May. The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in Massachusetts last week was $3.68 a gallon, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

The highest prices for gasoline in Boston were recorded in September 2005, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina -- $3.59 a gallon. To find the lowest gas prices in the area, click here.
(By Robert Gavin, Globe staff)