$3 Gas In Summer

Gas Prices Likely to Top $3 by Summer

Updated: 8 hours 49 minutes ago

Steve Pendlebury
Editor

(Feb. 23) -- Even though demand for gasoline is down because of the weak economy, drivers can expect increased pain at the pump. Experts predict the rising cost of crude oil will drive retail gas prices above $3 a gallon this summer.

The national average price for regular unleaded gas is about $2.66 a gallon now, according to AAA. That's nearly 80 cents more than a year ago, when prices had bottomed out after a wild ride in 2008. If the pattern repeats itself this year, prices will rise steadily for months to come.

Fred Rozell, retail pricing director at Oil Price Information Service, told The Associated Press he doesn't expect gas to go over $4 a gallon, as it did in the summer of 2008. He said he would be surprised if it hit more than $3.25 this summer. Penny-pinching Americans aren't buying enough gasoline to push prices beyond that, Rozell said, even though worldwide demand is making the crude oil that's refined into gasoline more expensive.

I know there are alot more factors at play with the price of oil and gas, but it seems the law of supply and demand simply doesn't apply here. It makes no sense. Any other product in the world, if supply is up and demand is down that makes for low prices. With oil, supply is up, demand is down, and the price increases. I just don't get it.