Oil prices hit 14 year high

The Associated Press

As oil prices jump to a 14-year high, there is growing speculation that gasoline in the United States this summer could reach a national average of $2 per gallon, and even higher in some regions.

Dwindling stockpiles and increasing demand have put new pressure on both crude oil prices and the tab at the gas pump, analysts said.

Crude oil closed March 17 on the New York Mercantile Exchange at $38.18 a barrel, the highest since October 1990. It had peaked during St. Patrick’s Day trading at $38.35, a level not reached since it briefly neared $40 a barrel a few weeks before the start of the Iraq war a year ago.