St. Louis sees gas jump to $2 a gallon

ST. LOUIS -- Seesawing gasoline prices jumped 17 cents overnight at many stations around the region, leaving regular unleaded selling typically for $1.88 per gallon, said Mike Right, a gasoline analyst for AAA. The news was even worse for users of premium fuel, some of which was topping $2 per gallon for the first time in Missouri.

"We're seeing record gasoline prices around the country," Right said.

Around Missouri, usually a state with relatively cheap fuel, the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded was $1.75, a number that figures to rise once the St. Louis jump is calculated in.

The national average for a gallon of regular unleaded was $1.83, according to AAA's daily survey. Typically, the price of fuel in St. Louis is 5-15 cents lower than the national average, Right said.

Gasoline prices have risen dramatically in the last couple of years. A year ago, the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded in Missouri was under $1.50 per gallon.

So what's going on?

"There are a lot of factors, and others on the horizon, all of them negative toward the prices consumers are paying," Right said.

Among them:

--A barrel of crude oil that sold for $26 a year ago now goes for $38.

--Wholesale gasoline prices at 70 cents per gallon a year ago are now $1.23.

--Terrorism concerns in the oil fields of the Middle East.

--OPEC efforts to hold back production, a move that coincides with all-time high demand in the U.S.

"I don't know if anything good has happened," Right said.

All of this is happening as summer approaches, a time when travel generally increases.

"The price continues to remain high and there doesn't appear to be any relief in sight," Right said.

Still, Right said it wasn't a given that unleaded regular prices would exceed $2 per gallon soon. Typically in St. Louis in recent years, prices spike sharply then decline gradually before the next big increase.

Ben Schwartz, 23, of Webster Groves, said the rising price of gasoline was of little concern to him. Of course, the Suzuki motorcycle he was filling gets about 45 miles per gallon.