Gas prices might increase 24 cents

Gasoline prices could rocket 24 cents a gallon the next few days, as stations across the USA scramble to keep up with big jumps in the prices of oil and wholesale gas, a veteran energy-price analyst forecast Thursday.

"It's going to be brutal, horrendous," says Peter Beutel, president of energy-price tracker Cameron Hanover. He has followed energy markets for nearly three decades.

Thursday, light, sweet crude oil for April delivery traded as high as $55.20 a barrel in New York before closing at $53.57.

A 24-cent jump in the price of gas would bump unleaded regular to a nationwide average of about $2.16 a gallon, blowing through last May's record of about $2.06. It could go higher as increased warm-weather driving in another two months pushes up demand, and therefore prices, forecasters say.

Adjusted for inflation, gas would have to hit about $2.95 for a record.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2005-03-03-gas-usat_x.htm

Boo! Hiss! As the price of oil continues to climb, I will be scouting out the gas stations with the cheaper prices. You may want to bookmark the following website: http://www.gasbuddy.com/ This is the home page for a series of websites where volunteers track the prices at various stations in their area. You would be surprised just how much variability there is sometimes in gas prices, even within a single city.