NEW YORK - Gas and oil prices pushed further into record high territory Tuesday, with retail gas reaching a national average of $3.51 for the first time and crude nearing $120 as the dollar fell to a new low against the euro.
At the pump, the national average price of a gallon of regular gas rose 0.8 cent Tuesday to $3.511, according to a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Prices for diesel — used to transport most food, industrial and commercial goods — also rose overnight to a new record of $4.204 a gallon.
Gas prices are nearly 66 cents higher than last year, when they peaked at a then-record of $3.23 in late May, and have prompted many analysts to raise their estimates of where gas is going to go.
“I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that we could get to $4,” said Antoine Halff, an analyst at Newedge USA LLC.
Other analysts are less certain. Fred Rozell, retail pricing director at the Oil Price Information Service, thinks gas prices will rise only another 10 cents to 20 cents nationally. That would mean they would peak near $4.15 a gallon in California, where prices are typically highest, and around $3.50 in New Jersey, where they’re typically lowest.
Surprise! The Shell station at 453 Main St & Twin Lakes in Bridgeport, California is selling regular gas at $4.59 a gallon! Granted, this is a single case, but it shows that gas prices are going nowhere but up! The regular gas prices in San Jose are averaging between $3.77 a gallon for the cheap stuff to $4.05 a gallon for Valero regular gas in Palo Alto. I was expecting gas prices to hit $.400 a gallon here by Memorial Day weekend, with the start of the summer driving season. It appears that I was off by a month! And the premium stuff here in San Jose is already above $4.19 to $4.25 a gallon!
This makes me wonder if we're going to see $5.00 a gallon gas by the end of this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment