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Gas prices may hit $4 per gallon

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By Hannah Poturalski, Staff Writer Updated 7:31 PM Wednesday, January 25, 2012

The price of gasoline has fallen 22 cents per gallon in some areas of the region in the past week, but drivers shouldn’t wait for a further drop in price before refueling, industry experts said.

“It’s good news for consumers in the area but I don’t think it will continue at this rate,” said Senior Petroleum Analyst Gregg Laskoski of GasBuddy.com, an online retail gasoline price watchdog.

Laskoski said he only anticipates prices to drop a few more cents before flattening out this week.

The Ohio average was $3.25 per gallon Wednesday — down from the national average of $3.35. Some gas stations, such as Murphy USA on East Second Street in Franklin, had prices down to $3.01 a gallon.

Emily Walker said the high price of gas has made daily life hard for her family.

“(The prices) affect our daily lives so bad that we need to plan day trips just to go to the grocery and do our errands,” Walker said. “We cannot afford to just drive around on a daily basis to do this and that.”

Walker, who recently had her first child and is attending school, said her blossoming family now tries to stay as centrally-located as possible.

Laskoski said the price of crude oil has decreased recently, affecting wholesale prices. According to a Jan. 23 AAA report, crude oil settled at $98.46 a barrel to end the week of Jan. 16,.

“When you look at gas prices you can’t just think about the U.S.; demand globally is increasing,” Laskoski said.

Laskoski said the U.S. has become a net exporter of petroleum — exporting more of the product than it imports — because of demand for refined fuel in Europe and South America.

Areas of Butler and Warren counties saw a broad range in prices.

On Wednesday, gas was $3.14 at United Dairy Farmers on North Verity Parkway in Middletown; $3.19 at Murphy USA on Princeton Road in Hamilton; and $3.49 at Shell on Union Centre Boulevard in West Chester Twp.

Laskoski said gasoline is on track to increase to more than $4 by summer. He said typically from the year-end price of fuel to the following year’s peak price an average of $0.93 is added — or a peak national rate of $4.18 per gallon in 2012.

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