Carol Thorp Continue Quotations

Motorists have not seen the end of price increases. Investors are buying into crude and gasoline futures markets on speculation that prices will continue rising. Retail prices still have not caught up with wholesale price increases. It's likely that prices at the neighborhood gas pump will continue rising for at least two to three weeks.

Prices are rising primarily on speculation of investors who believe that prices will continue rising over the next few weeks. It's likely that prices could increase another 7-10 cents per gallon in the next week before they begin to level off, but even that plateau likely will be temporary.

Prices went up throughout Southern California this past week, but not at as rapid a pace as we've seen during other gas price spikes. It's likely that increases will continue for at least the next few weeks.

Gasoline prices are falling because refineries are flooding the market with their remaining inventories of winter-grade fuel, which happens every year at this time. The slight downward trend should continue for a couple of weeks. Refineries begin shipping summer-grade fuel on March 1st. After then, motorists can expect to see prices turn upward again.

It's likely that increases will continue for at least the next few weeks.

The relationship between supply and demand is relatively balanced in California, so normally we should see stable prices. However, speculators in oil and gasoline markets have kept prices high, and that has filtered down to local gas pumps. The trend for higher gas prices is expected to continue for the next several weeks.