Fuel Prices May Again Top $3 This Summer, Paper Says
asoline and diesel retail prices may jump to more than $3 a gallon this summer during the traditional peak driving season, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Thursday.
With crude oil prices about $9 a barrel higher than a year ago, analysts said formulation changes for gasoline and diesel could lead to the fourth straight summer of record prices, the Inquirer said.
The Energy Department has said that both formulation changes to the fuels have the potential to cause regional supply disruptions with periods of increased volatility, the paper reported.
That creates the potential for sulfur from fuels such as home-heating oil to contaminate the ultra-low-sulfur fuel as it makes its way through the pipeline, the Inquirer said.
Valero Energy Corp., the largest U.S. refiner, estimated that removing the additive MTBE from gasoline this year will reduce supplies by about 145,000 barrels a day, or about 1.5%, it reported.
Gasoline reached a record $3.069 a gallon last Sept. 5, following Hurricane Katrina, while diesel hit a record $3.157 on Oct. 24 following Hurricane Rita.
