Gas Prices Reach a Record High in New York City
Jul. 1–Fireworks won’t be the only thing soaring this holiday weekend: Drivers taking to the roads will find gas pump prices at an all-time high.
City drivers will pay an average of $2.42 for a gallon of regular gas, according to an Automobile Club of New York survey of 477 service stations.
“It’s weird,” said Robert Sinclair, a club spokesman. “We are in uncharted territory.”
New York’s $2.42 compares with a national average of $2.21, culled by the auto club from 60,000 stations. A year ago, that same gallon of gas cost $1.92. Ten years ago, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, it was $1.15.
The current spike stems in part from crude oil prices that closed above $60 a barrel for the first time Monday, up from about $29 in 2003. And although prices have dipped slightly since then, experts see a host of factors pushing pump prices up.
Analysts cite a growing demand for oil worldwide, the war in Iraq and the busy summer driving season. Even if crude oil prices drop, the cost of gasoline could go up if summer hurricanes strike southern refineries, according to Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service, independent supplier of the industry’s benchmark prices.
“We can’t afford to lose any refining capacity,” Kloza said. “It’s like Giants Stadium … when you have to go to the bathroom. There’s not a lot of room to adapt if facilities break down.”
But the auto club doesn’t expect expensive gas to curb anyone’s holiday travel plans.
“According to our surveys, this is going to be the biggest holiday driving season ever,” Sinclair said, estimating 34 million will hit the roads. “Americans put in long hours and get the fewest vacation days in the civilized world. When we get the opportunity to go, we do.”
Motorists filling up at a BP station on 10th Avenue and 34th Street Tuesday afternoon grumbled about the price sting.
Ann Stevens, 26, a law officer from the Bronx, spent $30 for a little more than 11 gallons of premium to fill her new Acura TSX.
“It’s very painful,” she said of the price. “Whenever I don’t need to drive, I don’t.”
Charlie Spina, 53, a paint salesman from New Jersey, might have best summed up consumer griping over gas.
“I’m not very happy,” he said. “When I first started driving in 1967 I was paying 27 cents a gallon. “But I was bitching about it back then, too.”
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