Why $80 oil won’t mean $3 gas

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Despite oil prices recently hitting a record high of over $80 a barrel, experts say it’s unlikely retail gasoline prices will move much higher than the current national average of just below $2.80 a gallon.

To be sure, retail gas prices have risen a bit along with crude’s record ascent.


“Gasoline season is over, we’re going into low demand time,” said Stephen Schork, publisher of the industry newsletter the Schork Report.

Schork also said the switch to winter blend gasoline should act to keep the price down, as winter blending components aren’t as expensive as cleaner-burning summer blends.

“They are paying up in crude oil, but paying down in feedstocks,” he said.

Of course, he prefaced his statement with “barring another hurricane,” and said if oil remains near record highs into the winter, gas next year could set new record prices of its own.

One trader doubted oil prices will stay at the current record highs.

“If $80 a barrel holds, then it will trickle down to the pump,” said Sal Gilbertie, an energy trader at Fimat in New York. “But I have no faith in it staying up there.”

CNN/Money