CSM: Where do gas prices go next?

Where do gas prices go next?
By Mark Trumbull | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the September 09, 2005 edition

Gasoline prices have begun to ease, but even when all Gulf Coast refineries are running again later this year, consumers may not see a full retreat to pre-Katrina levels.

That conclusion, analysts say, stems from a simple equation involving the cost of a barrel of crude, markups by middlemen, and little margin for error in the nation's energy infrastructure. Across the country, gasoline prices soared into uncharted territory - above $3 per gallon last weekend - stunning motorists and prompting many to shorten or skip Labor Day trips.

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"As long as crude is high, the gasoline price will be high, although it doesn't have to be where it was the past few days," says Ron Gold, an energy analyst at the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation.

Oil prices fell Thursday to around $64 a barrel in midday trading after Energy Department figures showed higher than expected post-Katrina inventories.

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http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0909/p01s02-usec.html