$4 a gallon for gas is coming

Tomorrow should be a big day, according to AAA. With the price of oil hitting another new record today (up another 2%), the record average U.S. gas price should be set on Tuesday.

“I would anticipate we’d hit a new record price tomorrow,” said Geoff Sundstrom, AAA fuel price analyst. The current record is $3.227, set when oil was around $65 a barrel, something that now seems like a bargain. In Minnesota, the highest price for gasoline currently is in the Roseau-Warroad area ($3.20)

As the chart below (from minnesotagasprices.com) shows, it’s surprising the price of gas isn’t higher. The red line is gas, the blue line is the price of a barrel of oil.

gasd_oil_chart.jpg

The experts are saying $4 a gallon by summer seems like a sure bet. When it crossed $3 a gallon, the same experts figured that would be the point when consumers would change their driving habits. Now, they’re saying that, perhaps, the $4 mark will make a difference.

It was less than two weeks ago when President Bush said he hadn’t heard anything about $4 a gallon gasoline.

On the Web site Op-Ed News, Patricia Johnson has just posted “The Crude Facts About Crude Oil,” which does a nice job explaining how events — as well as the falling value of the dollar — have conspired to drive up the cost of oil. She also reminds us that the biggest single supplier of oil to the U.S. is Canada.

But regardless of the reason, the price of gasoline is what it is, and summer looks to be pretty pricey.

So, now the question: Will it change your plans for the summer? Will it change the way you use energy?