After my recent post about local gas prices edging upward, a commenter suggested I look around at what experts were saying about gas prices. Sure enough, many are saying to expect gas to hit $3 a gallon in the next couple of months. There are lots of ways you can save money at the pump though, like filling out this survey, so you should start looking at all the ways you can save money before prices rocket.
Once again, that could mean trouble for Western North Carolina’s sputtering tourism industry. Folks are really looking to get back on track starting in spring, and high gas prices are not going to help.
From The Island Packet in South Carolina, where gas is cheap:
Rising gasoline prices have crude producers, futures market traders and oil investors in the black and Lowcountry motorists seeing red.
“I keep reading how much better the economy is doing, but it’s not getting a whole lot better for me or anyone I know,” said Steve Walthen of Beaufort, filling up Saturday at a Port Royal gas station. “It was kind of sneaky. Gas just started creeping up in price and now we’re looking at $3 a gallon again.”
The average national price of a gallon of regular gasoline hit $2.70 on Thursday, according to AAA. The price of gasoline is up 67 percent from this time last year and at its highest level since October 2008.
From the Dayton Daily News in Ohio, where gas is expensive:
But as gas prices flirted with $2.80 per gallon last week — the highest prices in the Dayton area since May — a bit of a spook has been thrown into government officials who must budget police patrols, fire service, garbage collection and other necessities.
As in the last time around, it all depends on consumer demand — whether recovery from the Great Recession will be swift or much more elongated, as many pundits and economists suggest.
One reason given for the spike is the exceptionally cold weather, which pressures heating oil, and thus the price of crude oil and gasoline. There’s also the familiar whiff of speculation as commodities traders anticipate an economic recovery, said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, an online site devoted to the industry.
“Money is rushing into commodities, and very specifically, crude oil, and to a lesser extent gasoline futures, to start the year,” Kloza said.
“That has lifted the price. But it’s a bit of a false start, or sugar rush, tied to the fundamentals of money flow as opposed to typical supply and demand fundamentals,” he said.
There will be some back and forth before we hit near $3 later this year, Kloza said.
“I suspect we’ll slump after we advance another 5 to 10 cents per gallon. Not sure how much we’ll slump but it wouldn’t surprise me to see street prices 15 to 20 cents per gallon lower on Presidents Day (Feb. 16) than say, this weekend,” Kloza said. “From there, we’ll move up in March-May time frame, and at least make a pass at $3 per gallon retail average.”
And in Southern California, they’re already there, according to Los Angeles Business:
After a second-straight week of price increases, gasoline prices throughout Southern California are well above $3 a gallon, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California’s Weekend Gas Watch.
The average price of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area is $3.045 per gallon, which is seven cents more than last week, 13 cents more than last month, and $1.19 higher than last year.
On the Central Coast, the average price is $3.098, up 6.2 cents from last week, up 12 cents from a month ago, and $1.12 above last year.
In the Inland Empire, the average per gallon price is $3.021, which is 5.9 cents more than last week, 11 cents more than last month, and $1.17 more than last year.
“Crude oil futures, heating oil futures and gasoline futures are trading at price levels not seen since fall of 2008. Demand continues to be at very low levels – the investment interest in oil and other commodities is driven by the weak dollar,” Auto Club Spokesperson Jeffrey Spring said in a statement.
3 Comments
Subaru also has in production a Clean Burning Turbo Diesel Legacy. Maybe if our gasoline reaches $4 dollars they will ship some across the pond to us.
Three things: it is speculated that we have reached a Peak Oil plateau (check out lifeaftertheoilcrash.net or theoildrum.com).
also, opec and Russia announced last year that they could generally satisfy their budget demands at a steady $75-80/barrel. The recession has made that a little more difficult to engineer than usual but they have reached it.
And, coming from the transportation engineering side of things- stop driving so much. It doesn’t bode well for tourism and whatnot, but nothing else does either…
Maybe America should take a look at Europe.
Diesel is subsidized. You get better deals on diesel cars.
Before you go off spouting "diesels are nasty and the sound funny" check out a new one from VW, BMW or Mercedes Benz or the new truck from India, Mahindra. Great torque (and that’s that throws you in the back seat), no soot, and no shake. This ain’t your daddies diesel.
Oh, 600-700 miles to a tank of fuel, for less than it cost to by mid-grade fuel.
Diesels also last a good, long time too.
That or learn to ride motorcycle, not for leisure, but for transportation.