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Drivers in Connecticut, New York and Washington, D.C. are paying $3.92 or more per gallon on average, according to the Oil Price Information Service. Drivers in Rocky Mountain states, where refineries can tap low priced crude from the U.S. and Canada, are paying far less. Gas costs $3.42 or less in Wyoming, Utah and Montana. A major reason cited for high gasoline prices over the last two years -- fighting and political tensions in the Middle East and North Africa
-- doesn't apply this year. Libyan production has returned after collapsing during the country's revolution two years ago. And higher production from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia has made up for Iran's declining output in the face of Western sanctions. David Haeussermann, 36, a police dispatcher in Tampa who recently paid $3.56 per gallon to fill his Kia Rondo, hasn't had a raise in 6 years. He says higher prices for gasoline and food in recent years have prompted him to cut back on dinners out and to settle for less fancy food at home. He doesn't understand why gasoline costs so much, but by now he's used to it. "Three dollar gas seems to be a dream right now," he says. The good news is that the national average price is fifteen cents lower than last year at this time, because of slightly lower oil prices and less concern over the situation in the Middle East, and it isn't expected to reach last year's peak of $3.94 per gallon. Though disruptions at refineries or pipelines, or threats to oil supplies around the world, could send gasoline prices sharply higher at any moment, analysts say. Laffoon, the St. Louis resident, consolidates trips and drives as little as possible to blunt the effect of high prices. And he never fills all the way up. It is an exercise in what he calls "magical thinking" that prices aren't really what they are. Hey, it's worth a try.
[Associated
Press;
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