* AAA data showed average US gasoline prices rose 6 cents

this week to $3.88 a gallon Friday

* Refinery outages in Russia and the United States are

squeezing fuel supplies

* EIA data showed US petroleum products exports hit a weekly

record 8.7 million bpd

By Nicole Jao

NEW YORK, July 10 (Reuters) - U.S. drivers have seen

gasoline prices climb again after weeks of steady declines, as

renewed fighting between the U.S. and Iran lifted crudeoilprices

to their biggest weekly rise in eight weeks.

Disruptions in the global refining system and robust U.S. fuel

exports further tightened supplies, and average pump prices rose

6 cents this week to $3.88 a gallon on Friday, AAA data showed.

It was the biggest weekly increase since mid-May.

Renewed fighting between the U.S. and Iran over the Strait of

Hormuz sent energy prices back up sharply this week. With the

U.S. summer driving season in full swing, stubbornly high

gasoline prices have emerged as a political flashpoint for

President Donald Trump, whose Republican Party is campaigning to

hold thin majorities in the U.S. Congress in November midterm

elections.

Trump recently accused oil companies of price gouging.

"Gasoline prices have rallied alongside the massive move

higher in crude oil after several tankers in the Strait of

Hormuz were attacked," Alex Hodes, director of energy market

strategy at brokerage StoneX, said.

Global oil futures benchmark Brent was on track for a

weekly gain of roughly 5.5% after attacks on several tankers

transiting the Strait of Hormuz. This was followed by

tit-for-tat strikes between the U.S. and Iran and Washington's

decision to revoke a general license permitting the sale of

Iranian oil.

Oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz remain well below

pre-conflict levels, stoking fears that even minor disruptions

could ripple through global fuel markets. The key

waterway carried about 20% of daily global oil and gas supplies

before the start of the war on February 28.

Trump has pressed gasoline retailers to cut prices more

aggressively. The administration has urged the U.S. Justice

Department to investigate possible gasoline price gouging and

recently introduced a new price-cutting initiative offering

discounted gasoline at some locations in Pennsylvania and New

Jersey.

TIGHTENING SUPPLY

Crude supply concerns are only part of the story, Hodes added,

pointing to unplanned refinery outages in both Russia and the

U.S. that have squeezed fuel supplies.

Russia's refining sector has been disrupted asrepeated attacks

reduced fuel production and worsened shortages. Moscow has

curbed diesel exports and boosted gasoline imports, tightening

global fuel supplies and lifting prices.

Russian output of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and fuel oil has

been decimated with many months of downtime ahead, said Tom

Kloza, chief energy adviser at Gulf Oil.

In the U.S., refinery outages have further strained supplies,

including disruptions at Marathon Petroleum's ( MPC )

146,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Detroit, Michigan, and

Delta's 190,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Trainer,

Pennsylvania.

U.S. gasoline inventories fell by 1.9 million barrels last week

to 212.1 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration

said on Wednesday, leaving stockpiles nearly 10 million barrels

below the five-year average.

Gasoline stocks are running below seasonal norms across all

U.S. regions, but the shortfall is especially pronounced on the

Gulf Coast, said Denton Cinquegrana, chief oil analyst at Dow

Jones Energy.

Inventories in the U.S. Gulf Coast, which produces the vast

majority of the nation's supply of refined products, fell to

76.4 million barrels last week, below the five-year average of

82.3 million barrels.

Moreover, the loss of Middle Eastern and Russian barrels

from the global market has allowed refiners in the U.S. to reap

stronger margins as the swing suppliers of fuel.

U.S. petroleum products exports hit a weekly record of 8.7

million bpd in the week to July 3, EIA data showed.

"The U.S. Gulf of Mexico may see consistent gasoline exports

of 1-million b/d and there are bets among Houston traders as to

whether 2-million b/d will be achieved for distillate

departures," Kloza wrote to clients on Thursday.

The U.S. summer driving season from June through early September

typically boosts gasoline consumption, while production of more

expensive summer-blend fuel raises refining costs, boosting pump

prices.

"It seems prices will mostly drift up and down here in the

short-term," Cinquegrana said.