Gas prices continue to rise

Sticker shock at the gas pump. The price for a gallon of regular unleaded has shot up to $2.23 around Tulsa. That's the second big jump this week alone. <br/><br/>This time last year, we were paying

Friday, July 8th 2005, 10:47 am

By: News On 6

Sticker shock at the gas pump. The price for a gallon of regular unleaded has shot up to $2.23 around Tulsa. That's the second big jump this week alone.

This time last year, we were paying a $1.79 for regular unleaded and no one filling up can forget the relatively low prices of not that long ago.

News on 6 reporter Emory Bryan says it is hard to find people filling up at these prices - in most places $2.23 a gallon - the highest most anyone could remember paying. And the drivers we talked to weren't hopeful prices would drop before they needed to fill up.

Jeremy Marshall considers himself lucky. He almost stopped at a station selling gas for $2.23. "My wife said there's one for $2.19 and I just whipped it around and came in." But $2.19 is the exception. Most every station is at $2.23 and drivers think it's going to go higher.

Joe Asbury was glad he only needed to top off the tank of his SUV. It gets just 13 miles a gallon. That's 17 cents a mile just for the gas. "Can't really change how I drive, I've got to do it, right?â€ Some drivers thought $2.09 was too high last week. If they waited, they're paying 14 cents a gallon more now.

The drivers we talked with say they haven't changed the way they drive just to save gas. AAA says that won't happen until gas hits $2.50 a gallon. Jeremy Marshall: "I got a lead foot and I'm into it just as much as ever."

And AAA believes it would have to hit $3 a gallon for people to consider trading cars for something smaller. Charlotte Hughes: â€œIâ€™m glad I don't have a larger car."

Marshall is like most people - he doesn't understand how the price could swing so much, so fast. He's worried it will go higher, so he's filling up, so he's filling up, just in case.

As for the reason for the price hike - some analysts blame the weather in the Gulf of Mexico - a big storm last week, another possibly coming in this week, threatening to disrupt supplies, so prices go up just in the case.