PITTSBURGH -- Escalating fuel prices at the pump continued this week, setting a new record high in Western Pennsylvania. The price of a gallon of regular, unleaded, self-serve gasoline rose 9.6 cents and currently costs $3.204.

According to the AAA Fuel Gauge, the nationwide average price of self-serve regular gasoline is $3.105 Tuesday. This is 12.3 cents away from setting a new record high price for gasoline in the United States.

Although oil prices reached -- but did not close above -- $100 last week, they remained elevated Tuesday and traded above $97 per barrel. The wholesale price of gasoline also remains at high levels. In addition to factors cited last week as causes for the high prices, we must add Monday’s reported confrontation between the U.S. Navy and Iranian patrol boats in the Straits of Hormuz.

The highest statewide average gasoline price is in Hawaii ($3.48 per gallon). California has the second-highest price ($3.35 per gallon). At this time only 10 states have average prices below $3 per gallon. Most of these are in the west, although traditional low price leaders such as New Jersey and South Carolina are on the list.

The following is a list of the average price of unleaded self-serve gasoline in various areas:

$3.201- Altoona
$3.237- Beaver
$3.259- Bradford
$3.156- Brookville
$3.199- Butler
$3.199- Clarion
$3.202- Du Bois
$3.230- Erie
$3.199- Greensburg
$3.198- Indiana
$3.213- Jeanette
$3.194- Kittanning
$3.197- Latrobe
$3.196- Meadville
$3.199- Mercer
$3.192- New Castle
$3.214- New Kensington
$3.208- Pittsburgh
$3.199- Sharon
$3.199- Uniontown
$3.199- Warren
$3.190- Washington