Gas Prices

Kliphnote: It can't be Obama's fault. But it was Bush's fault when

gas was over $4.00 gal. Besides it will be an incentive to go green.

So say the Left-headed Kool-aid drinkers.

Bumpy Ride Ahead: Gas Prices May Soon Hit $4 a Gallon

Gas station manager Fred Oliver, of Lisbon Falls, Maine, changes the price of gasoline on the pumps at a station in Topsham, Maine, Feb. 7, 2012. Gas prices are expected to rise as high as four dollars by Spring. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

By ALAN FARNHAM

Feb. 13, 2012

Gasoline prices could soon hit $4 a gallon, a threshold they haven't flirted with since last spring.

The average price paid by U.S. drivers for a gallon of regular now stands at $3.52, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which released its latest figures this afternoon. That price represents an increase of 0.04 percent from a week ago and 0.38 percent from a year ago.

Experts expect prices to spike another 60 cents or more, with the $4 mark being touched—or exceeded—sometime this summer, probably by Memorial Day weekend, the peak of the summer driving season. The last time the U.S. saw $4 gasoline was back in the summer of 2008.

"I think it's going to be a chaotic spring," says Tom Kloza of the Oil Price Information Service. He expects average prices to peak at $4.05, though he and other industry trackers say prices could be sharply higher in some markets.