Soaring Gasoline Prices

I heard this on the radio yesterday.

I was not aware of soaring gasoline prices. But it's a fact, Jack.

NewsOK is reporting, headline: Soaring gasoline prices hurt Oklahoma City area retailer --

Two years ago, he spent $500 to upgrade his signs so they can display prices above $4. He said he hopes he doesn't have to use them. But with wholesale prices soaring as much as 70 cents a gallon in the past five weeks, there seems to be no end in sight.

Convenience store owners throughout the state are facing the same challenge. 

“I would much rather sell gasoline at $1 than at $4,” said Jim Griffith, CEO of Stillwater-based OnCue Express. “At higher prices, my credit card costs are a lot higher, the customers are not happy, and we're not happy. People blame us, and my poor clerks catch a hard time about it.”

The summer driving season has not yet begun. The switchover from winter blend to summer blend should be complete, so don't use that as an excuse. 

Motley Fool noticed the same thing:

Americans spent more money on gasoline in 2012 than in any other year... ever. Meanwhile, here in 2013, retail gasoline prices spiked to $3.60 a gallon on average -- $3.94 on the West Coast -- the sharpest rise in prices seen in the past three months. And Iran is happy to hear it.

In fact, if the Islamic Republic has anything to say about it, Americans could wind up paying even more for gas than we already do. Right now, a barrel of benchmark crude costs about $95. But over the weekend, Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Ghasemi was quoted arguing that "the price of crude oil [should] remain at about $100." Ghasemi thinks that price "is fair, and Iran supports it."