Retail gas prices highest in a year

Retail gasoline prices chugged higher today to a new peak for the year, forcing consumers to dig deeper into already-thin wallets to pay for fuel. At the same time, natural gas prices also were moving up again and have now climbed 16% in the past two months—just in time for furnace season to kick in. The worst part: Supplies of oil and gas are plentiful. In fact, storage points for gas are so jammed, producers are running out of places to put it and crude supplies are well above average levels. Gasoline prices are now up 17 straight days after climbing 0.4 cents overnight to a national average of $2.695 a gallon, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Services. That is the highest price since Oct. 26, 2008. Prices are up 5.9 cents from a week ago and 14.8 cents from a year ago. The average retail price for gas was $1.686 a gallon in December. Today’s price will tack about $50 a month on to the monthly gas cost for the typical customer compared with the end of last year, and comes at a time when unemployment is at a 26-year high. Gas prices in Baton Rouge average $2.56, up from $2.53 on Thursday, $2.49 last week and $2.28 one month ago. According to batonrougegasprices.com, prices range from a low of $2.39 at several stations in Denham Springs to $2.79 at the Chevron station on Jefferson Highway near Brandon Drive.