June 15 (Bloomberg) -- The rising cost of crude oil is vaulting gasoline prices higher as world supply and demand for oil have reached an equilibrium, said the American Petroleum Institute, which represents the oil and natural-gas industry.

“The cost of gasoline has gone up because the cost of crude oil has gone up,” said John Felmy, chief economist with the Washington-based API, in a conference call today with reporters.

Worldwide supply and demand are “probably at equilibrium,” in part from effective OPEC cuts, he said.

Gasoline for July delivery added 0.99 cent, or 0.5 percent, to settle at $2.053 a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Average prices for regular gasoline rose 0.6 cent to $2.669 a gallon, the highest since Oct. 26, AAA, the nation’s biggest motoring organization, said today in its Web site. Prices have jumped 17 percent in the last 30 days.

The rise in prices cannot be attributed to higher demand, said Ron Planting, an analyst with the institute. “There’s no question that the demand for all products is off,” he said.

The average price of regular gasoline at U.S. filling stations rose 16.68 cents in the two weeks ended June 12 to $2.6607 a gallon as refiners cut production and stockpiles declined, according to a survey of 5,000 filling stations nationwide by Trilby Lundberg, an independent gasoline analyst.

Inventories Fall

Stockpiles fell a seventh straight time in the week ended June 5, according to an Energy Department report on June 10.

“Higher oil prices are virtually the only reason the pump prices have jumped this month,” Lundberg said in an interview yesterday. “The federal spending response to the poor U.S. economy has given a push to the move from investors away from dollars to crude oil.”

Crude oil for July delivery fell $1.42, or 2 percent, to settle at $70.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil reached $73.23 on June 11, the highest in seven months.

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Burkhardt in New York pburkhardt@bloomberg.net; Margot Habiby in Dallas at mhabiby@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 15, 2009 16:11 EDT