Gas prices continue rise but motorists might catch a break

By Palm Beach Business.com

DELRAY BEACH — Gas prices continue to shoot up over the past week but motorists might see some relief at the pump this week because of the disaster in Japan.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that the national average price for a gallon of regular increased to $3.567 from $3.52 a week ago and $3.14 a week ago. Florida prices moved more modestly, to $3.546 a gallon from $3.531 a week earlier and $3.112 a month earlier.

In Palm Beach County, AAA’s Fuel Gauge Report has regular averaging $3.668 a gallon, up from $3.629 a week ago and $3.214 a month ago.

Crude oil dropped $3.26 last week to $101.16 a barrel, the first decline in a month. The earthquake in Japan forced the shut down of multiple oil refineries, which produce about 600,000 barrels of oil a day combined.

That might be expected to push prices higher, but the disaster is likely to curtail Japanese demand for weeks to come. Japan is the third-largest oil consuming country in the world.
AAA’s Jessica Brady also noted that the so-called  "Day of Rage" that was expected to happen in Saudi Arabia never occurred and also helped to push oil prices lower.

It's uncertain whether or not oil prices will continue to decrease this week as events in Japan and the Mideast continue to unfold.

"Oil prices typically move higher when a natural disaster occurs that forces oil refineries to shut down, but Japan's oil demand is expected to see such a significant drop, that it actually pushed prices lower," Brady said. have pushed oil prices higher.

"Retail gas prices will likely remain relatively unchanged this week, with the possibility of seeing prices drop a cent or two."