Gas prices up 84 cents in four months

WINSTED — Pain at the pump continues in Winsted and across the state with many gas stations charging $4.11 a gallon as of Monday, April 25.This marks an 84-cent rise from the beginning of the year, when a gallon of gas averaged $3.27.According to fuelgaugereport.aaa.com, a gas price tracking website operated by the Automobile Association of America (AAA), the average price of gas for the region one year ago was $2.98 a gallon.Jim MacPherson, spokesman for Connecticut AAA, said that the high gas prices are taking a toll on drivers nationwide.“There has been a decrease in domestic demand for fuel because people are starting to drive less,” MacPherson said. “We can’t blame domestic demand as part of the cost push. There are so many factors and so many culprits to this story that you can run out of space writing about it.”The unrest in the Middle East continues to be a major factor in the high prices, as well as the continuing decrease in value of the American dollar.“Crude oil prices are now at a point that we have not seen in a couple of years,” MacPherson said. “If you go back to the peak of the high gas prices in 2008, the highest crude oil was trading was from $145 to $148 a barrel. Right now [as of Monday, April 25] they are $113 to $114 a barrel. We are seeing very high prices for crude oil.”MacPherson added that since civil unrest started in Libya, crude oil production in that country has been stopped.“It’s interesting to note that officials from Saudi Arabia originally suggested that their country would make up the difference, but they have chosen not to,” MacPherson said. “Will it climb up to $5 a gallon? I cannot say. If there is a supply disruption, a hurricane in the Gulf or a complete and total unraveling of the situation in the Middle East, it will put tremendous pressure on the cost of the fuel supply that is available. It’s hard to predict. In the past, I have seen a number of unforeseeable ugly events that have caused problems with gas prices.”According to MacPherson, the all-time high for gasoline prices in Connecticut is $4.39 a gallon in May 2008.While the consumer may be losing money due to high gas prices, oil companies are not suffering the same kind of loss.Multiple news outlets have reported this week that many of the international oil companies that serve America, including Exxon-Mobil and Sunoco, are seeing record profits in the range of billions of dollars.On Sunday, on the CBS television program “Face The Nation,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal called for the Department of Justice to investigate whether illegal practices are driving up gas prices in the state and all over the country.In the meantime, AAA Southern New England has issued a warning to drivers not to run their vehicles on empty.According to AAA, running a vehicle to the bottom of the gas tank may cause sediment to clog the automobile’s fuel pump, fuel filter or fuel injectors. It can also cause the electric fuel pump inside certain automobiles to overheat. Replacing any one of the fuel-related components can cost more than $500 in parts and labor.Several websites track gas prices locally and nationally, including fuelgaugereport.aaa.com, gasbuddy.com and autos.msn.com.