The gap between what drivers are paying for gasoline now compared with a year ago is widening and figures to get worse by the end of the year.
The national average price at the pump was $2.629 a gallon Monday, 80.4 cents more a gallon than a year ago, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Services.
Gasoline prices bottomed near $1.61 at the end of 2008 as the recession took hold, demand for fuel crumbled and the stock markets tumbled.
For the first time in about 10 years, oil prices in December are expected to be twice what they were a year ago, says Tom Kloza, an analyst for OPIS.
Crude prices have been trading between $75 and $82 a barrel for the past month or so.
Prices jumped Monday after Britain said a racing yacht was seized by Iran in the Persian Gulf and that five British nationals were being held.
Crude settled at $77.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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