""Gasoline prices continue climb to new highs,
Gasoline hit a record nationwide average price of $2.061 a gallon, motorist club AAA reported Friday, creeping up 0.6 of a cent overnight to eclipse Thursday's high of $2.055.
Thursday's prices broke the previous high of $2.054 last May.
Brace for another 20-cent rise in the next 75 days, says Tom Kloza, senior analyst at Oil Price Information Service, reflecting the opinion of other analysts.
"We haven't seen the top. Sometimes I get two price-change alerts a day" from his fuel supplier, says Sam Turner, who operates 134 convenience-store gas stations in Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama.
The zooming price of crude oil, from which gas is made, and the switch to costlier summer-blend gas are behind the bad news.
Petroleum speculators, who expect strong worldwide demand to create shortages, are bidding up crude oil and wholesale gasoline. The price of crude accounts for half the price of gas.
Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude oil hit a record intraday high of $57.60 a barrel Thursday in New York trading before closing at $56.40, down 6 cents from a nominal record $56.46 Wednesday. Adjusted for inflation, oil would have to pass $81 to be a record.
That might not be far-fetched. Some analysts see $60-plus soon.
Forecaster Enercast.com foresees $62 by Memorial Day. "You have very strong global demand," managing partner Agbeli Ameko says. "Despite the higher prices, people aren't slowing down consumption."
Wachovia's Jason Schenker says that although oil could go higher, "I think very soon we are going to see a correction. That doesn't mean we're going to $30. ... Could we go back to the 40s? Sure."
Meantime, most of the USA is required by law to switch to more expensive but less polluting summer-blend gas in April, a move that almost guarantees higher prices. Not only is the fuel costlier, but refineries often are temporarily out of service during the changeover.
When prices rise, so do gas thefts. "I'm losing $5,000 a week on drive-offs," Turner says. "It's not much different than coming inside and stealing money."
Beyond that, buyers use credit cards more often, which drives up fees for the merchant.
Other businesses are hurt by high gas prices. Teresa Nelson, owner of Teresa's Treasures gourmet food and gift-basket company in Fort Worth, raised delivery charges outside Fort Worth but is absorbing the 20% jump in fuel costs this year for nearby deliveries. "If you just nickel and dime people to death, after a while, they are going to go somewhere else," she says.
AAA says 22 states set records Thursday. Highest statewide average: $2.441 in Hawaii. Priciest on the mainland: $2.328 in California.""
Gasoline hit a record nationwide average price of $2.061 a gallon, motorist club AAA reported Friday, creeping up 0.6 of a cent overnight to eclipse Thursday's high of $2.055.
Thursday's prices broke the previous high of $2.054 last May.
Brace for another 20-cent rise in the next 75 days, says Tom Kloza, senior analyst at Oil Price Information Service, reflecting the opinion of other analysts.
"We haven't seen the top. Sometimes I get two price-change alerts a day" from his fuel supplier, says Sam Turner, who operates 134 convenience-store gas stations in Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama.
The zooming price of crude oil, from which gas is made, and the switch to costlier summer-blend gas are behind the bad news.
Petroleum speculators, who expect strong worldwide demand to create shortages, are bidding up crude oil and wholesale gasoline. The price of crude accounts for half the price of gas.
Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude oil hit a record intraday high of $57.60 a barrel Thursday in New York trading before closing at $56.40, down 6 cents from a nominal record $56.46 Wednesday. Adjusted for inflation, oil would have to pass $81 to be a record.
That might not be far-fetched. Some analysts see $60-plus soon.
Forecaster Enercast.com foresees $62 by Memorial Day. "You have very strong global demand," managing partner Agbeli Ameko says. "Despite the higher prices, people aren't slowing down consumption."
Wachovia's Jason Schenker says that although oil could go higher, "I think very soon we are going to see a correction. That doesn't mean we're going to $30. ... Could we go back to the 40s? Sure."
Meantime, most of the USA is required by law to switch to more expensive but less polluting summer-blend gas in April, a move that almost guarantees higher prices. Not only is the fuel costlier, but refineries often are temporarily out of service during the changeover.
When prices rise, so do gas thefts. "I'm losing $5,000 a week on drive-offs," Turner says. "It's not much different than coming inside and stealing money."
Beyond that, buyers use credit cards more often, which drives up fees for the merchant.
Other businesses are hurt by high gas prices. Teresa Nelson, owner of Teresa's Treasures gourmet food and gift-basket company in Fort Worth, raised delivery charges outside Fort Worth but is absorbing the 20% jump in fuel costs this year for nearby deliveries. "If you just nickel and dime people to death, after a while, they are going to go somewhere else," she says.
AAA says 22 states set records Thursday. Highest statewide average: $2.441 in Hawaii. Priciest on the mainland: $2.328 in California.""
