Gas Prices Keep Climbing

What do daylight savings time, warm weather and political unrest on the Colombia-Ecuador border all have in common? They’ve all contributed to the first warning shots in what is shaping up to be a record-breaking year at the gas pump.

Even as tensions cool between oil-rich Venezuela and its neighbors, the brief dustup involving a Colombian rebel group supported by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez reminded us that the price of oil is never more than one international incident away from a severe spike.

Oil has hit another record high of $107 per barrel, and the average cost for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline has hit $3.222 per gallon, which is just half a cent short of its all-time high of $3.227 last May.

We wish the news got better.

That price is a nine-cent leap from just two weeks ago, and according to USA Today, prices could jump another 20 to 30 cents in the next month alone. Conservative estimates from the Energy Department originally had the peak cost of gas for the summer season at $3.40, but it’s hard to believe that number won’t be adjusted upward. A new report is expected tomorrow. We don’t want to shout “fire!” in a crowded theater here, but 20 to 30 cents in a month is an enormous leap.

According to an article on CNNMoney.com, another factor playing into the crude oil equation is foreign investment, spurred by a weak dollar. This has made for an artificial rise for crude even as demand has fallen, but may indicate that prices might level off if and when investors stop pushing prices upward.

Speculation that gas will hit $4 a gallon before the end of the summer remains open to debate, but it probably wouldn’t hurt to start thinking about an office carpool well before that.

Gas Prices Near a Record; Crude Oil Sets Another One (USA Today)