As gas tops $3 in Calif., 'petro-noia' hits U.S.

Ford just seems to have no luck at all. Bye-bye for a significant number of Super Duty sales

As gas tops $3 in Calif., 'petro-noia' hits U.S.

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SAN FRANCISCO -- Gasoline prices have jumped above $3 a gallon in some parts of California and Hawaii, and may hit that level in other parts of the country when the busy summer driving season approaches.

"It kills me," said Gloria Nunez, 53, as she filled her Ford Explorer SUV at a San Jose gas station. Nunez, a clerk for a communications company, has started working a couple hours of overtime each week to help soften the blow. "All of a sudden you kind of have to watch your pennies," she said.

Analysts say drivers should brace for more increases in the coming weeks. Crude oil, which makes up about half the price of gasoline, is trading above $60 a barrel. Higher demand, refinery maintenance and fears about springtime shortages are also driving up prices.

"The West Coast will certainly be the wild, wild West this year," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service. Extensive maintenance work at West Coast refineries has curtailed supplies and exacerbated the typical "preseason rally" spurred by jitters about tight supplies.

"In the rest of the country, it's just petro-noia. They're worried that they won't have enough gasoline," Kloza said. "But on the West Coast the concern might be warranted."

Analysts said it's unlikely other parts of the country would see $3 gasoline before summer without a major disruption in supply. Average fuel prices are still below their historical highs -- most of which were set in 2006 -- but are inching higher weeks earlier than usual.

-- "I have tried to live my life so that my family would love me and my friends respect me. The others can do whatever the hell they please." John Wayne

Reply to
Jim Higgins
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Oh, gosh... how terrible.... We were already there last year (nearly a buck

14 a liter) - and I live on top of the friggin' stuff. Amazingly, we went back down to 80something per liter but has surged back to 96.9 per liter (that's about $2.60/US gallon).

Pardon me if I don't sound too sympathetic... where I live, we say "suck it up, princess..."

Reply to
Jim Warman

Currently $1.069 per LITER in Southern Ontario. That's over $4.04 Canadian per yankee Gallon. $4.86 per Canadian Gallon.

Reply to
clare at snyder.on.ca

Same here on the west coast.

Steve R.

Reply to
Steve R.

Tom... I'm not sure where you live... I'm not sure which classes you slept through and I'm not sure which classes you ditched....

Here, in Alberta (which is "right on top of the stuff"), I have a very poor view of the ocean on most days.... Out on the left coast, you will be hard pressed to find a pumpjack in anyones back forty..... I'll try to refrain from any reference to the abysmal lack of knowledge that many Americans display when it comes to geography and such.

I recently watched a short clip where many people living in the United States of America couldn't name a country that begins with the letter "U".

Reply to
Jim Warman

Reply to
Tom

I can't name one country either, but I can name two. Uganda and Uruguay, but I don't know for sure if Urope a country and I believe Utopia is 'state?' ;)

mike

Reply to
Mike Hunter

You missed the sarcasm. "U" as in United States.

Reply to
Richard

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