Drivers continue to get bad news about gas prices. Not only did gas hit a record $2.37 for regular unleaded on Monday but another 21-cent spike is expected to hit with the next few weeks. And USA Todayreports that gas prices are expected to remain above at a nationwide average price of at least $2.10 through all of 2006.
Over the next few weeks, the EIA said a recent 21-cent rise in gasoline spot prices will be passed on to consumers at the retail level.
So far, only about 8 cents of that increase has made it into the pump price, the agency said.
"It takes about 2 weeks for changes in the spot price of gasoline to begin to show up at the pump and it is mostly passed through after 4 weeks," the EIA said. "This implies more price increases lie ahead for the next few weeks."
The agency said that after the Labor Day holiday in early September gasoline prices often decline as fuel demand drops when people go back to school and work.
However, the EIA warned that with a government forecast of an active hurricane season this year, gasoline prices "could continue to surge" beyond Labor Day if a major storm disrupts supplies in the Gulf of Mexico or more oil refinery outages occur.
