Gas prices are above $4 per gallon at a gas station downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday. The national average for a gallon of unleaded was $3.19 on Wednesday – 53 cents more than a year ago. Analysts expect the average to range between $3.25 and $3.75 this spring. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)By JONATHAN FAHEY
AP Energy Writer
NEW YORK – Political unrest and rising tensions across the Middle East and North Africa are causing unprecedented uncertainty in oil markets.
Eight countries in the world’s biggest oil-producing region are in some stage of upheaval. As longtime rulers face revolts, fear of what could happen to oil fields, refineries, pipelines and shipping routes is what has driven oil prices past $100 a barrel for only the second time in history.
“The genie is out of the bottle,” says oil analyst Fadel Gheit of Oppenheimer & Co. “Things are a lot worse than they appear.”