A group of pedestrians walk toward a Chevron gas station price board in San Francisco, Friday, Aug. 10, 2012. Analysts expect West Coast gas prices to surpass $4 a gallon after a fire knocked out a key section of one of the nation’s largest oil refineries.Local prices riseGas prices in Chattanooga have jumped by more than 39 cents a gallon in the past month, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report. The average price of a gallon of gas in Chattanooga Friday was nearly $3.40 a gallon, up from less than $3.01 a gallon a month ago, AAA figures indicate. Chattanooga gas prices still averaged nearly 28 cents per gallon less than the U.S. average, however.
NEW YORK – A surprise surge in gasoline prices is taking some of the fun out of summer.
The national average for a gallon of gas at the pump has climbed to $3.67, a rise of 34 cents since July 1. An increase in crude oil prices and problems with refineries and pipelines in the West Coast and Midwest, including a fire in California, are mostly to blame.
Analysts don’t expect gas prices to get as high as they did in April, when 10 states passed $4 a gallon and the U.S. average topped out at $3.94. But this is still unwelcome news in this sluggish economy, since any extra money that goes to fill gas tanks doesn’t get spent on movies and dinners out.
The rising prices also could put pressure on President Barack Obama in the heat of his re-election campaign.