Source: Bizjournals.com
Areas on the west coast are already feeling the supply squeeze and are seeing gas prices at or above $3.00 a gallon, and the summer driving season hasn't even arrived yet.
Certain areas of Southern California have already broken the $3-a-gallon threshold, and it appears that all areas will be above $3 as soon as next week.
According to the Automobile Club of Southern California's Weekend Gas Watch, the average price of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area is $2.914, which is 7.2 cents higher than last week, 31 cents higher than last month and 29 cents higher than last year.
On the Central Coast, the average price is $3.006, up 8.2 cents from last week, 30 cents above than last month and 28 cents higher than last year.
In the Inland Empire, the average price is $2.938, up 5.3 cents from last week, 32 cents above last month and 29 cents higher than last year.
I think people are going to be in for a real shock when gas prices rise to the $4.00 or above price mark this summer. I can soon see a time here in America when $5.00 a gallon gas is commonplace.
Many factors would fuel such a price increase and hold it steady:
1.) Wars and conflicts in or near oil-rich countries that would continue to scare oil futures traders into higher prices.
2.) Continued rising demand from growing countries like China and India.
3.) Continuing growth and further use of automobiles paired with the lack of desire for fuel conservation.
4.) Natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina which knock 50% of oil refineries out of commission for an extended period.
5.) Terrorist acts against the above mentioned facilities.
6.) Failures by the big oil companies to build new refineries and upgrade or retool existing ones to be more efficient.
Many studies plot us as an international community to be running on a crash course with the amount of oil the world consumes. In ten to twenty years, the oil pumps may start running dry as we currently are consuming as much as or more than production capacity.
The time to start developing hybrid vehicles and alternative fuel sources is now. Let's not wait until we have a fuel crisis, like during the '70s. Then we are stuck paying $10.00 a gallon, and all chaos erupts because we weren't prepared.
This is something we can start fixing now.
The question remains...are we, as an oil consuming world, ready to do the hard part and make the switch for a better future?
Tags: [rising gas prices], [oil], [west coast], [west coast expected to pay more than $5 a gallon at the pumps this summer], [alternative fuel sources need now], [fuel crisis]
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