Today’s fuel price musings - Back from a break

Add comment August 29th, 2008

Sorry to go a few days without a post. It’s been a crazy time over there. Though, not as crazy as down in the Caribbean and Gulf Coast. I wish those folks the best as they cope with Gustav - it’ll do more to them than raise fuel prices

Now, for those of us monitoring gas prices - the worst-case scenario appears to be $5 a gallon briefly, according to one analyst. But he seems to be the only one going so high. (He also says gas prices spiked from “just over” $2 a gallon to $3 back when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit three years ago, but the data I have from AAA shows gas prices went from $2.60 a gallon when Katrina formed to a peak of $3. And by mid-October, prices were back to pre-Katrina levels. Maybe I’m missing something.)

Bottom line - gas prices will go up. Oil infrastructure is already being preemptively shut down in the Gulf, which causes a strain on supply. We’ll see what happens.

Remember to check out our Gas Tracker feature, and add prices you see. The more trackers we have, the better information we’ll have.

Here’s the price situation as of this morning (prices courtesy of AAAs fuelgaugereport.com):

Gasoline: increased almost a cent to $3.77 a gallon. We’re down to fifth in the state in gas prices. The Illinois average increased a cent to $3.86. The national average increased a cent to $3.67, its first increase in 43 days. Illinois has the eighth-highest gas prices in the nation.

Diesel: Rockford increased less than a cent to $4.17 a gallon. We have the fifth-highest diesel prices in the state. The state average dropped less than a cent to $4.35. The national average dropped half a cent to $4.27. Illinois has the 16th-highest prices in the country (including the District of Columbia).