Moderate Summer Gasoline Prices Expected Despite Oil Spill

Summer gasoline prices aren’t expected to rise much more than $3 a gallon due to excess refinery capacity and rumors about the oil spill in the gulf disrupting shipping lanes are overblown, experts say.

Prices are already on the way up as summer approaches. The national average price for a gallon of gas rose to $2.90, up a nickel, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service, told ABC News:

“In 2005 and 2006, refinery capacity was maxed out, so there was some rationale behind summer gas price spikes, but that is simply not the case with refineries anymore. Between excess capacity, oversupplies of crude and ethanol subsidies, it is very doubtful we will see the kind of volatility in gasoline prices we saw a few years ago.”