Hi Chuck:
___CNN/Money just had an interesting story on gas prices peaking in May … Of course this is yet another government rehashed report. Although I find the past data from the EIA very reliable, their forecasts are out to lunch in some cases. Let us all hope they are right this time around given CA. and HI. are already well into the $3.00 range and everywhere else is starting to bump up into that area?
Cheaper gas seen in 2007.
Government sees lower prices peaking sooner than last year; predicts national average high of $2.87 a gallon.
Steve Hargreaves - CNNMoney.com - April 10, 2007
NEW YORK - Gasoline prices are expected to peak earlier and about 11 cents lower this year compared to 2006, the government said Tuesday.
In its annual summer fuels outlook, the Energy Information Administration said nationwide average regular gasoline prices are expected to top out at $2.87 per gallon in May, compared with $2.98 per gallon seen last July.
"Although gasoline prices began their seasonal increase about a month earlier than usual, the rapid rate of price increase is projected to slow over the next few months." EIA said in its report.
Gasoline is expected to average about $2.81 a gallon this summer, down slightly from $2.84 in 2006, the EIA report said.
EIA's estimate is only seven cents higher than the average price of gasoline now, as reported by the motorist organization AAA. In many states the price of regular is already over $3 a gallon.
EIA said unexpected refinery maintenance this year eroded supplies and caused gasoline prices to spike sooner than usual.
Gasoline prices have risen for the last 10 weeks straight and are now 20 percent higher since the start of the year.
Strong demand, refinery problems, the looming summer driving season, and declining supplies as refiners switch to cleaner burning summer blends have all been cited as reasons for the runup.
Crude oil prices, which account for about half the price of a gallon of gas, have also risen over the past few weeks, pushed higher mainly by political tensions with Iran.
Last year nationwide average gasoline prices fell just shy of the all time, non-inflation adjusted record of $3.06 a gallon set in September 2005 following Hurricane Katrina, according to AAA.
Adjusted for inflation, gasoline hit a peak of around $3.15 a gallon in early 1980, following the second Arab oil embargo and the Iranian revolution.
Yet people also earn a lot more now than they did in 1980, so by some measures what people spend now on gas is only half of what is used to be.
In 1980, the average American had to work 105 minutes to buy enough gas to drive the average car 100 miles, David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's, said in a study last year. By 2006, the average American needed to work only 52 minutes, thanks in part to better fuel efficiency but mostly due to higher wages … [
read more]
___Good Luck
___Wayne
) or heaven forbid a hurricane or two. And of course the ever present BP, Exxon/Mobil, Chevron refinery outage or explosion at the most impromptu times … I hope none are the case and we see a top out just about where we are today. We are just now touching $2.90 in the Chicago area and it is a bit tough to swallow. It should however make others think a bit harder about where our fuel comes from, what we are doing by emitting its effluent, and all the other consequences of using this limited natural resource.
), and a 
Linear Mode
