Between Editions

This fire Monday at a Big Spring, Texas, refinery is partially to blame for the higher oil prices seen today.

Just when you thought $3 a gallon for gas was high….

We could be seeing a lot higher prices after oil Tuesday closed at just over the $100 mark for the first time ever.

There was no single driver behind oil’s sharp price jump, reports the Associated Press; investors seized on an explosion at a 67,000 barrel per day refinery in Texas, the falling dollar, the possibility that OPEC may cut production next month, and continuing tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela.

What will this mean for prices at the pump? Well, it doesn’t take an economist to figure out that we’ll soon be paying more per gallon to fill ‘er up.

According to the AP: Retail gas prices, meanwhile, jumped 1.8 cents to a national average price of $3.032 a gallon Tuesday, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Retail prices, which typically lag the futures market, are following oil prices higher. The Energy Department expects gas prices to peak near $3.40 a gallon this spring.

Around South Arkansas, we’re already paying near $3 a gallon for regular unleaded. What are commuters going to do when it reaches near $3.50 or more? Any thoughts?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 at 8:25 pm and is filed under BREAKING NEWS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.