(Adds heating oil prices in states, U.S. heating oil inventories, White House comment, lawmaker's request to tap U.S. heating oil reserve)
By Tom Doggett
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Even though the coldest winter weather has yet to arrive, the U.S. residential heating oil price soared 15.7 cents over the last week to a record $3.11 a gallon, the government said on Wednesday.
Thanks to rising crude oil costs, it also marks the first time ever that the average price paid by consumers for heating oil, gasoline and diesel fuel topped $3 a gallon at the same time, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The average price U.S. drivers paid this week for gasoline reached $3.01 a gallon and diesel hit a record $3.30 a gallon, the EIA said.
High petroleum product prices reflect soaring crude oil costs, which hit a record $98.62 a barrel on Wednesday, and worries about tight fuel supplies this winter.
The national heating oil price is up 73 cents from a year ago, the Energy Department's analytical arm said in its weekly survey of heating fuel costs around the country.
Residents in the District of Columbia paid the most for home heating oil at $3.41 a gallon, up 26 cents from the prior week. The next highest prices were in New York at $3.22, New Jersey at $3.21 and Connecticut at $3.18.
The lowest price for heating oil was in Nebraska at $2.93 a gallon, up 15 cents, followed by Iowa at $2.97, North Carolina at $2.98 and Virginia at $2.99.
Households in the Northeast that use heating oil will take a big financial hit this winter, paying a record $3.06 a gallon on average for the fuel during the season, 66 cents more than last winter, according to the EIA's new monthly forecast.
Heating oil costs in the region, where one out of three households burn the fuel, are expected to average $1,879 for the winter, up 25 percent from last year and $79 more than the agency previously thought.
The White House reiterated on Wednesday that oil prices "are too high."
Rep. Edward Markey of Massachusetts asked the Bush administration last week to release supplies from the government's heating oil reserve to help bring down fuel prices in the Northeast. However, the administration said the 2-million-barrel emergency stockpile should be saved in case of a big supply disruption and not to manage prices.
While total U.S. heating oil inventories rose 600,000 barrels last week to 48 million, they are down 15.3 million barrels from a year ago, according to the EIA. (Reporting by Tom Doggett; Editing by Jim Marshall)
