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Dayton
Business Journal...
Gas prices
may crack $4 by spring
by Laura
Englehart
Wednesday,
January 4, 2012
With the
average fuel price at $3.29 per gallon nationwide, drivers could pay
more than
$4 per gallon for fuel when prices peak in the spring and summer
months,
analysts say.
While
prices have fallen in recent months, the current average is 22 cents
more than
the price a year ago of $3.07 per gallon. In the past seven years, fuel
prices
have peaked 93 cents to $1.31 higher than where prices started that
year, said
Greg Laskoski, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com.
That means
average prices nationwide could hit $4 or even $4.38 per gallon this
year.
In Dayton,
the price Jan. 1, 2011 was $3.09 per gallon. That increased $1.07 per
gallon by
May 3, when prices peaked. In previous years, the price has topped out
at 53
cents (2010), 106 cents (2009), 111 cents (2008), and 123 cents (2007)
higher
than where it started that year.
The current
average fuel price in the Dayton-Springfield metropolitan area is $3.33
per
gallon, up 5 cents from a week ago and 13 cents from a month ago,
according to
AAA’s Fuel Gauge Report.
On Tuesday,
Jan. 3, the first trading day of 2012, the price of West Texas
Intermediate
crude oil increased $4.13 to settle at $102.96 — the highest settlement
price
since May 10.
“A growing
global economy is expected to demand more crude oil, which pressures
prices
higher, as does the possibility of future disruptions to global
supply,” said
Avery Ash, AAA federal relations manager.
Trucking
firms are especially sensitive to the spikes and the Dayton region has
a
booming trucking hub because of its location near the intersection of
Interstates 75 and 70. Arkansas Best Corp.
has 630 workers in Dayton, while many other
large trucking firms also
have local operations.
Transportation
is such as large focus of the local region’s economy that Southwest
Ohio is
home to operations of more than 450 of the Fortune 500, according to
the state.
Larger
shipping firms, including United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp.,
have
operations locally that feel the sting of rising gas prices. FedEx is
expanding
its local distribution center in Vandalia and adding 25 workers.
Currently the
company operates in a 119,000-square-foot distribution center, which
has grown
to nearly 140 employees.
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