Gasoline prices should peak at $4.15 a gallon this summer
Associated Press
Originally published 03:23 p.m., June 11, 2008
Updated 03:50 p.m., June 11, 2008
Photo by Paul Sakuma / Associated Press
A Toyota advertisement is shown on a World Gasoline station pump in Sunnyvale, Calif.
WASHINGTON — Gasoline prices should peak at $4.15 a gallon this summer, the government says — finally an encouraging word for motorists who might be thinking the cost of a fill-up will just keep climbing.
But wait: The predicted relief is pretty modest. Prices at the pump are likely to stay above $4 a gallon most of next year, according to today's projections by the Energy Department's statistical agency.
Oh, and the government tends to err on the optimistic side.
Guy Caruso, head of the federal Energy Information Administration, delivered the sober news at a congressional hearing on energy prices and the future of oil.
Even as he spoke, oil prices jumped again, edging for a time above $138 a barrel and putting yet more upward pressure on gasoline prices.
A drop in gasoline inventories, concerns about hurricanes that could disrupt Gulf of Mexico supplies, and most important the high oil prices all have contributed to a belief that the upward spiral of gasoline costs will continue at least for a few months, according to Caruso as well as private energy experts.
Motorists are paying $4.05 a gallon on average nationwide, and considerably more in some parts of the country, according to a survey of gas stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. That's an increase of nearly $1 a gallon since January.
And little relief is in sight.
Prices are likely to remain close to or above $4 for the rest of the year and average $3.92 a gallon through 2009, the Energy Department agency forecast.
Crude oil prices are expected to average $126 a barrel in 2009, or $4 a barrel higher than this year, as oil supplies and demand will remain tight, Caruso told the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.
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June 11, 2008
3:39 p.m.
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Jackieg218 writes:
Man these prices are killing the paycheck to paycheck families like myself. I live and work in Canon City and its 3.99 this morning and hubby works in Pueblo.
He has to work there to make a better wage, as Canon does NOT pay worth anything really and job market is slim pickins unless you DOC or FBOC it. Our gas bill went from 250.00 a month now to 340.00. Ya know maybe to some that extra 90 bucks doesnt seem like much but it sure does to us. When I look at what we were paying a year ago... whew, I am about to get him one of those tiny little moped's and have him leave for work 2 hours early. I am just so thankful (being the Polly Anna that I need to be) that "I" only need to fill MY car every 3 weeks.Unlike hubby who fills up 2 times a week. LOL. I just hope something breaks.
I know some of you say stop complaining about the gas, but when you look at the over all picture, that food has increased a ton. I used to pay just under 2 dollars for cottage cheese, its now 3.89, even simple things like a loaf of bread went up by 25 cents a loaf.
Thanks for lettin me vent.
June 11, 2008
3:40 p.m.
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mojambo writes:
So gas will peak at 25 cents more than it is right now, and stay within a 15 cent trading range for over a year?
After the runup we've seen over the last 3 months, we're to believe this prediction?
puhlease
June 11, 2008
3:46 p.m.
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SockRayBlue writes:
My grandmother had a cute saying, "crap in one hand and wish in the other...now what do you have?"
How can anyone suggest that the oil price spiral will end and at what price? Insider information? Have the speculators been apprehended and sent quietly to Guantanamo? Has China decided to go back to wood fired woks? Is the threat of more Prius's on the road enough to cap the price of oil?
June 11, 2008
3:48 p.m.
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Big_D writes:
The fuel prices are in a bubble that will expand with McCain or burst with Obama. This is just artificial inflation that is not checked because the party in power is making bank. By the way Producers are the ones making the bank so don’t pull some BS end-run about profit margins. The price to put water in and pull oil out has changed little but the profit has skyrocketed.
June 11, 2008
3:49 p.m.
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Geta_clue writes:
This country can meet all of its fuel needs by making them from coal for $2 per gallon. Unfortunately, congress has eliminated this option due to concerns about global warming. If you want $2 fuel, call your representatives. We do not need to import our fuels and they don't have to cost $4.
June 11, 2008
3:53 p.m.
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Big_D writes:
Here is what your $4 a gallon is buying. Look it is even profiting the Bin Ladin family.
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthr...
Throw that one in your go fig file.
June 11, 2008
4:02 p.m.
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cassidy22 writes:
First of all, gas prices are not going to peak. Ever again. Do a google search on PEAK OIL, and you will start to understand that the oil supply in the world is RUNNING OUT. We can't get it back, we can't make more. IN the meantime, we keep driving to work, and complaining about gas prices. What people need to do is start looking at the long term picture. What are you doing to slow down your own consumption? What are YOU doing to break YOUR dependency on oil?
The people who take action to reduce their dependency are going to be the ones who still have food on the table when the food riots start. Yes, our food prices are going up partly because of the cost to transport bananas from South America, and apples from Washington State and oranges from Florida. Wake up, people, and instead of COMPLAINING, be part of the solution. This isn't a government issue - this is something we all need to be part of. Figure out how to live without it, and you'll have nothing to complain about. There are lots of suggestions, and YES, it may mean changing your precious lifestyle, which to many people seems selfish and gluttonous. So once you stop pouting, starting working on a solution that works for you. Protect yourself. The government can't stop this one for you.
June 11, 2008
4:06 p.m.
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RickyLee writes:
Who believes this propoganda?
June 11, 2008
5:08 p.m.
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Jackieg218 writes:
FloydHill you know you never really have anything much to offer do you? You always slam people.
So let's see who's fault is it? Well it would be our fault I guess that we choose to live in a small town where there is not the gang violence, the high rate of teens that have kids, the mass crime of bigger cities, the fact that ENGLISH is the pretty much only language spoken here, learning to speak a spanish is a ELECTIVE here still rather than a requirement etc... yeah its my fault.
No my hubby isnt on work release,he is a glazer and there is only 1 family owned company here in that line of work. There for rather than he not work or look for government handouts ( like many do ) we choose to have him be a man and support our family.
One of the reasons money is so tight for us is my increasing medical costs, so if YOU want to pay the 350.00 a month for my meds then cool, other wise hush it.
I am so glad that you want it to go to 5.00, I am sure that would increase your welfare and food stamp money...
June 11, 2008
5:17 p.m.
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jay writes:
not if mccain gets his wish and we bomb bomb iran.
June 11, 2008
5:57 p.m.
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Fresh writes:
All of you are idiots.
June 11, 2008
6:05 p.m.
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Frisco337 writes:
There is price manipulation going on in Colorado. I paid 3.66 / gallon in Walsenburg Monday and 20 miles north it was 4.15. That's bad. On the political side, the Bush administration knew this was coming. If not, it is incompetent. So there is a reason behind it all. Maybe, drive the price up and the insiders get to drill where they can't drill now. That's an explanation worthy of discussion. Not the petty BS you guys like to dish out.
June 11, 2008
8:23 p.m.
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Vector049 writes:
Vote for Bush.
June 11, 2008
9:29 p.m.
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jacka writes:
I have to go with Jackie, times are tough.
Maybe we can really crush the economy by subsidizing alt fuels so that big oil has even more pricing headroom, restrict drilling and refining to big oil has less supply, raise taxes (ops the PC term is 'freeze') and allow the unions to continue forced unionization.
Tax freezes = tax increases
Revenue enhancements = tax increases
June 11, 2008
10:22 p.m.
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boulder1259 writes:
Is oil a limited resource? Yes. Has demand doubled since it was $2 a gallon? No. Has the supply been cut in half in the last couple of years? Nope, not that either... The prices are being run up by speculators and oil companies (sure ExxonMobil likes to claim it's not taking advantage of the situation, but its financial statements show otherwise! How else do you make record profits?).
Even if oil doubles in price, the price at the pump shouldn't because there are a number of other costs in a gallon of gas that haven't changed much in the last few years. If you want the price to go down, just cut back on discretionary driving, and it will drop. Maybe it will crash like the housing bubble...