AUGUSTA – Frigid weather, the continued labor strikes in Venezuela and the possibility of war with Iraq have combined this week to push the price of home heating oil in Maine up another 3 cents to an average of $1.40 a gallon.

Prices across the state ranged from as low as $1.28 a gallon in some sections of central Maine to as high as $1.60 a gallon in parts of eastern Maine, the State Planning Office reported Tuesday.

The average across New England as of Jan. 20 was more than $1.43 a gallon, according to the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration web site.

Prices have increased following the rapid rise in crude-oil prices to a two-year high of $34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.