Despite a huge rise in the price of gas in the United States last week, analysts believe the end of higher gas prices is nowhere to be seen. The turmoil in the Middle East has forced the price of crude oil to rise sharply, affecting the price of gasoline around the world.
The average national price for one gallon or regular gas rose to $3.33 by Saturday, a rise of 4.6 cents, according to the AAA, a motorist group. This represents the highest average price of gas since October 2008.
On Friday the highest one day gas price rise since at least 2008 was reported, an increase of 6 cents, said Tom Kloza, the chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service.
"This will definitely be the most expensive February ever," he said, adding that the winter months usually experience the lowest gas prices of the year.
Moody’s Analytics is warning of a 37 cent increase in the price of gas over the next few weeks. Chris Lafakis of Moody’s expects that for every $1 increase in the cost of a barrel of crude oil retail prices of gas usually rise about 2.5 cents per gallon.
The great fear of the spiking cost of oil is the effect this will have on the overall economic recovery in the US and worldwide. A rule of thumb is that for every $1 increase in the price of oil consumers pay about $1 billion over the course of the year.