Local gas prices rising

Milwaukee-- The recent spike in gas prices in Wisconsin has been a point of frustration because nobody can seem to agree on what it's happening.  John Felmy is the Chief Economist with the American Petroleum Institute based in Washington, D.C.  He stopped by CBS 58 Tuesday to talk about reasons for the rise and what might happen this spring and summer.  \"As I like to say, if I could forecast crude oil prices and gasoline prices...I wouldn't be sitting here,\" said Felmy.  

What Felmy is sure of is crude oil prices, and consequently, gas prices...have shot up partly because of unrest in oil producing countries like Venezuela, Sudan...and uncertainty in Ukraine.  But he says it's the ongoing switch over from winter to summer-blend gasolines that may keep prices rising into spring before leveling off in summer.  Natural disasters and man-made events could change everything.  Felmy said, \"What will happen with hurricanes because that would be disruptive.  So there's a whole host of factors that come together that yield what happens in oil prices.\"

In addition to paying attention to world events, Felmy says consumers can take steps to reduce their gas consumption and costs. \"They can take junk out of the trunk, they can in fact their tires, tune their engines and drive sensible and you can save a lot of gas that way.\"