Oil Prices Spike As Iraq Tensions Grow
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Turmoil in Iraq has gas prices on the rise.
Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy.com, said even he was surprised at how much gas prices jumped on Thursday, just in the time between when he went to work and when he got home.
"I left for work, gas was priced at $4.12, and unfortunately my car needs premium, so my cost would have been $4.52 a gallon," he said. "I get home after getting on the clogged Kennedy Expressway, racing to get home, my tank is on E, I pull up to Speedway, and boom, $4.29 – or actually $4.69 for that premium – so a 17-cent-a-gallon jump."
DeHaan said drivers can expect high gas prices through June. Later summer prices will largely depend on the effect of the crisis in Iraq, where Kurdish rebel forces have taken control of a capital in the oil-rich north, and insurgent forces were advancing on Baghdad.