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Gas Is Averaging $3.51 A Gallon; Tops $4 In Places; How High Will It Go?

Sign of the times? Prices at a gas station in San Francisco on Friday.
Paul Sakuma
/
AP
Sign of the times? Prices at a gas station in San Francisco on Friday.

If you had to fill up your car's tank this weekend, you might have wished you'd stopped by the bank first to take out a loan.

Yes, Americans pay less for a gallon of gas than drivers in many other nations. But as Jean Cochran reported on this morning's Newscast, the latest Lundberg Survey shows the average cost for a gallon of regular gas is now $3.51 a gallon nationally, up 33 cents in just two weeks. And the price is expected to go up at least another 10 or 15 cents in the near-term:

In California, as Capital Public Radio's Bob Hensley reported this morning, gas is now averaging $3.85 a gallon in the state — a penny more than what it costs in Hawaii (which, along with Alaska, usually has the "honor" of being home to the most expensive fuel in the nation):

The situation in Libya — and traders' fears that other oil-producing nations may soon see similar unrest — has driven the price of oil above $106 a barrel, the highest point in almost three years.

The White House is considering whether to tap the nation's oil reserves as one way to ease the upward pressure on gas prices.

Meanwhile, we've got a couple questions for our American readers who drive:

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Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.