"Crude oil prices spiked in response to a weaker dollar and predictions that in 2011, oil could sell for $120 a barrel because of a renewal in worldwide demand," Jeffrey Spring, a spokesperson for the Automobile Club of Southern California, told the newspaper.
Worldwide demand for products made from crude oil is also being blamed for [image-nocss] the rapidly rising pump prices. The gasoline price rise is unusual for this time of year, when prices historically have dropped, said the report.
There are 20 states with averages over the $3 mark, according to the American Automobile Association: Alaska, $3.515. Connecticut, $3.224. California, $3.252. Washington, D.C., $3.133. Delaware, $3.024. Hawaii, $3.566. Illinois, $3.048. Massachusetts, $3.036. Maryland, $3.002. Maine, $3.115. North Dakota, $3.011. Nebraska, $3.001. Nevada, $3.054. New York, $3.240. Oregon, $3.046. Pennsylvania, $3.092. Rhode Island, $3.116. Vermont, $3.115. Washington, $3.159. West Virginia, $3.037.
Click herefor the full chart.
Also, click here for GasBuddy.com's national gasoline price map (Alaska and Hawaii are excluded).
On Friday the average price of a gallon of regular nationwide was $2.977, according to AAA.
With crude oil prices at the highest level in more than two years, holiday shoppers face $3-per-gallon gasoline this holiday season--and much higher prices likely by springtime, added a report by AOL DailyFinance. "It now look as if December 2010 is probably going to be the most expensive month for gasoline in the U.S. since September 2008," Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Wall, N.J.-based Oil Price Information Service, told the online news outlet.
Crude oil hit $90 a barrel on Tuesday, its highest point since 2008, when prices were plunging from that summer's high of $145 a barrel in the worst energy crisis of the last decade. Gasoline topped out at $4.11 a gallon.
Kloza said that he believes gasoline prices will hover around $3 a gallon until Christmas, and then drop back until spring. But then he expects them to surge dramatically, perhaps as high as $3.50 a gallon. "That will be a mini-apocalypse for a lot of people," Kloza said, adding that while the price increase will be painful, he doesn't think it will be long-lasting.
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