Gasoline Shortages Seen as Possibility This Summer

img src="/sites/default/files/images/articles/printeditiontag_new.gif" width=120 align=right>With some motorists paying more than $2 for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline, industry experts sounded alarms that low fuel inventories could lead to record prices and possibly even shortages during the peak driving season.

And while passenger vehicles are the main users of gasoline, freight operations also use it to power many local pickup-and-delivery vehicles and the trucking industry burns an estimated 14 billion gallons of it each year.

“There is a concern by AAA and other organizations that we could see very high gas prices this summer — maybe even new records,” said AAA spokesman Geoff Sundstrom. “This is mainly because of low inventories. We presume the demand for gas would increase as we move toward summer and that would create additional price pressure.”