LI gas prices jump again amid turmoil
Gas and diesel prices are advertised at a service station in Easthampton, Mass. (Feb. 23, 2011) Credit: AP
Long Island gasoline prices jumped 2.8 cents from Wednesday night to yesterday morning to an average $3.484 a gallon for regular, but then rose still further later yesterday at many stations amid continuing unrest in the Middle East.
But there was some good news for drivers digging deeper into their wallets to keep their cars running: Crude oil futures dropped Thursday for the first time in nine days after the International Energy Agency said the rebellion in Libya may have cut oil production less than originally feared.
The agency said the deadly uprising in Libya has forced oil companies to idle between 500,000 and 750,000 barrels per day of production, or less than 1 percent of global daily oil consumption. That's roughly half of what Italy's Eni, Libya's largest oil producer, estimated Thursday. The energy agency said other countries could make up for the Libyan shortfall.
U.S. crude oil for April delivery declined 82 cents to settle at $97.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday. The contract touched $103.41, the highest intraday price since Sept. 29, 2008. Futures are up 22 percent from a year ago.
Brent crude oil from the North Sea for April settlement rose 11 cents to $111.36 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange, the highest close since Aug. 29, 2008. Brent crude is the main ingredient for some of the gasoline consumed by drivers on the East Coast.
After oil prices soared 18 percent since Feb. 15 as anti-government protests swept some countries in North Africa and the Middle East, Thursday's drop suggests that traders "are starting to recognize that prices have become overextended," said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service.
But experts say that if crude holds at or around its current level, drivers could see further increases at the pumps -- as much as 40 cents a gallon, according to some experts.
Gas on Long Island Thursday was 62.4 cents a gallon higher than a year earlier, according to the AAA's daily survey.
Staff and wire reports
'We have to do better' Newsday high school sports editor Gregg Sarra talks about a bench-clearing, parent-involved incident at a Half Hollow Hills West basketball game.
'We have to do better' Newsday high school sports editor Gregg Sarra talks about a bench-clearing, parent-involved incident at a Half Hollow Hills West basketball game.
