This is getting ridiculous... 1.78 my last fill up. What freaking gives? I just read this little report blasting the price gouging that is happening right now.
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ORLANDO, Fla. - The American Automobile Association, the biggest US motorist organization, said a recent jump in gasoline prices isn\'t justified and that makers of the fuel may be \'\'close to\'\' gouging consumers.
US pump prices for regular gasoline averaged $1.61 a gallon as of Monday, up 10 cents from a week earlier and the highest since June 2001, the group said in a release. The price was the highest the AAA has recorded for the month of February.
\'\'There is no shortage of gasoline, there is no shortage of crude,\'\' AAA spokesman Geoff Sundstrom said. \'\'I think we\'re getting very close to\'\' price gouging, he said.
The average price was up 9.1 percent from $1.47 a month ago and up 43 percent from $1.13 a year ago, according to AAA data, which is based on surveys of more than 60,000 filling stations.
Prices for oil and gasoline have surged over the past two months as tensions have increased in the Middle East and a strike in Venezuela hobbled that nation\'s petroleum industry, slashing exports from the fourth-largest supplier of crude to the United States.
This story ran on page C2 of the Boston Globe on 2/12/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
