Oil Price Climbs With Fear Gas Will Follow

Crude oil prices spiked above $103 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a record price that has analysts speculating gasoline will hit $4 a gallon.

The price at the pump climbed in the United States Friday, but has not reached the record average of $3.22 per gallon.

The AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report said the average price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline in the country reached $3.164 Friday, up from Thursday’s $3.161 per gallon price.

On the exchange, the price of crude settled in electronic trading to $102.05 per barrel Friday morning.

The price of heating oil declined slightly, down 1.56 cents to $2.83 per gallon.

Reformulated blendstock gasoline prices fell 0.97 cents to $$2.486 per gallon.

Natural gas prices dropped 1.8 cents to $9.425 per million British thermal units.