"Here" being Reidsville, North Carolina and the surrounding area.
It will likely hit $4 per gallon or thereabouts by the end of the week. And this month might end with it averaging $5 a gallon, depending on how the situation in Libya goes.
I haven't said anything about Libya yet on this blog. But for those who are curious: I don't see any good outcome. Kadaffi (or however you spell his name and I've heard there are about a hundred English translations) is a nutcase and a half enforcing his private little fantasy world with lots of guns and missiles and probably chemical weapons... but if he goes down in what can only be called civil war at this point, look for the Muslim Brotherhood-type that we just saw running the show in the Egyptian revolt to take charge.
And then things start to get interesting.
(I would also - not to put too fine a point on it - advise keeping an eye on Saudi Arabia in the near future.)
Two other factors that are ramping-up the price of fuel: the official stance by the executive branch of the United States federal government to disprove of increased deep-water drilling. And, something that I've talked about a few times already on this blog: that this country needs more oil refineries. That is more a bottleneck than most people realize, but there haven't been any new refineries built in quite some time. Without that, whatever increased petroleum production we might have becomes a moot thing.
I'm due to take a trip early next month. It'll be a long drive. Here's hoping that the pumps between here and yonder won't be seven bucks and change. The way things are going now, I wouldn't doubt it.
