Released: May 01, 2007

Pump pain could get even worse

Source: Barbara Hagenbaugh and James R. Healey, USA Today

If the price at your local gas station isn’t topping $3 already, it likely will soon.

The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $2.971 Monday, up more than a dime from a week ago and the highest since August, according to the Energy Department. A separate survey from motor club AAA found the U.S. average was $2.953 Monday, up nearly 30 cents from a month ago.

Oil market experts, including those at Wachovia, Oil Price Information Service and Alaron Trading, said it’s just a matter of time before the U.S. average gasoline price tops $3 a gallon. The average price at the pump already is above $3 in 11 states and the District of Columbia.

And some said the nationwide record, not adjusted for inflation, of $3.069 will soon be broken. That record was set Sept. 5, 2005, after Hurricane Katrina, according to the Energy Department. Adjusted for inflation, the record high was in March 1981, when gasoline prices were $3.223 in today’s dollars.

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