The middle of winter feels more like the heart of summer at gas stations across the United States as fuel prices surge past US$2 per gallon (US$0.50 per liter) in some places and motorists grumble about being gouged.
When a gallon of gas costs more than a cup of gourmet coffee, drivers chalk it up to industry greed during the peak driving season. Now consumers are accusing oil companies of taking advantage of the prospect of war in Iraq -- an allegation the industry brushes aside as a conspiracy theory.
Gas station owners tell a more complicated story, explaining that today's high pump prices are partly the result of avarice, but not their own.
The average retail price of regular unleaded has risen US$0.22 since the beginning of the year to US$1.66 a gallon. Meanwhile, wholesale gas prices have increased only US$0.14 over the same period of time.
The prices are still lower than in many parts of the world, but the disparity is the source of ire for much of the American public. Others accept high gas prices as a consequence of war rhetoric from the Bush administration.
Corina Alba, 22, sees some correlation between gas prices and the possibility of war in Iraq, but the Anaheim, California, resident doubts international affairs solely explain the situation.
"I think it's just an excuse to raise prices," Alba said.
Earlier this week, Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat, called on the Federal Trade Commission to launch an investigation of industry practices.
"It appears as if price gouging is taking place across the country," Schumer said in a letter to FTC Chairman Timothy Muris.
Gas prices typically rise during spring, when refiners shift from winter-to summer-grade fuel. The switch to cleaner-burning gas requires shutting down equipment, scrubbing it clean and starting it up all over again -- a process that causes supplies to contract and prices to move higher even under the best conditions.
The impact of this switch has already been magnified by the possibility of a US-led invasion of Iraq, analysts said.
As the public face of the industry, gas station owners are frustrated by accusations of profiteering, but they insist they're not the ones to blame. They say suppliers have been steadily upping their "rack" prices for weeks and that station owners are merely passing along the changes to customers without any benefit to their bottom lines.
"I realize that the price of a barrel of oil has gone up tremendously, but the way that rack prices have gone up for the last two weeks is just not right," said Richard Loeber, owner of a Hess station in New Jersey.
About 40 percent of the retail cost of gasoline is attributed to the price of crude oil, which has risen 19 percent since the start of the year to US$36.79 per barrel.
For its part, the petroleum industry fends off critics by pointing to higher oil prices. The surge has mainly been attributed to traders' fears of supply disruptions in the event of a war in Iraq and the impact of the Venezuelan oil strike.
"The fundamental thing is that crude prices have gone up dramatically," said John Felmy, chief economist at the American Petroleum Institute.
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