''A year ago, gasoline prices were plummeting as the financial crisis and recession took hold, and demand for oil and gasoline tumbled sharply.''
Retail gasoline
prices chugged higher Friday to a new peak for the year, forcing consumers to dig deeper into already-thin wallets to pay for fuel.
At the same time, natural gas prices also were moving up again and have now climbed 16 percent in the past two months — just in time for furnace season to kick in.
The worst part: Supplies of oil and gas are plentiful. In fact, storage points for gas are so jammed, producers are running out of places to put it and crude supplies are well above average levels.
Gasoline prices are now up 17 straight days after climbing 0.4 cents overnight to $2.695 a gallon, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Services. That is the highest price since Oct. 26, 2008.
Prices are up 5.9 cents from a week ago and 14.8 cents from a year ago. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091030/ap_on_bi_ge/us_oil_prices