Pumping a tank of gas is getting almost as expensive as during the wobble before the financial crisis in 2008.
Anti-government protests that rocked Egypt and continue in some surrounding territories sent unleaded fuel to $3 a gallon Sunday in this part of Southwest Virginia and higher still in other regions.
Although certain benchmark prices have retreated from tension-driven highs, that's not true for fuel delivered to the East Coast, "so it's affecting our prices here locally," Windy VanCuren of AAA Mid-Atlantic said Monday.
Now up 20 percent from a year ago, fuel prices could go higher still.
Prices usually increase by late spring or early summer in response to vacationing motorists driving up demand and the cost of an annual change in fuel blend.
Americans who are now paying an average of $3.17 will be paying $3.50 to $3.75 this spring, predicted Tom Kloza, chief analyst at the Gaithersburg, Md., Oil Price Information Service.
A motorist fueling up at Plantation Exxon near Interstate 81 in Roanoke County spoke for many as she vented Monday.
"It's ridiculous," said Wykia Chisolm, who was bound for home in Jonesboro, Ga., after a New Jersey wedding.
"Electricity is going up, too. For the economy to be the way it is, why are all these prices going up?"
Fuel bought in Roanoke is still a bargain compared with what the average Californian pays -- $3.56 -- but the sting is real.
Gasoline isn't the only commodity at or near a 52-week high. According to markets followed by CNNMoney.com on Monday, the following commodities are all up significantly over a year ago: heating oil (up 36.8 percent), gold (26 percent), silver (105.3 percent), corn (90.5 percent), wheat (64.5 percent), coffee (108.6 percent) and cotton (149.6 percent).
"Businesses do not need higher expenses right now," said Bob Jones, owner of Air-Lee Cleaners in Roanoke.
Seven vans on the road burn $300 to $400 worth of fuel weekly handling pickup and delivery and movement of goods to and from the main cleaning plant, he said.
The U.S. government should tap this country's domestic petroleum resources and lessen oil imports, he said.
"Mideast goes up in flames, it could totally wreck our economy," he said.
New sparks flew in Libya that could further disrupt crude supplies, reflected when oil prices jumped by more than $4 a barrel on Monday.
Oil companies such as U.K.-based BP and Germany's Wintershall said they were temporarily suspending operations in Libya, while Italy's Eni said production continued normally. Some of the firms also began evacuating their foreign employees there.
"Compared to Tunisia (a minor crude exporter) or Egypt (not an exporter but a transit country), instability in Libya is a major concern to the oil industry," said analysts at JBC Energy in Vienna.
Today's prices are beginning to look like those of early 2008 on the eve of a domestic financial crisis that sent gasoline to a record high domestically.
On Feb. 21, 2008, the average retail price of unleaded fuel rose above $3, just as it did Sunday.
In the fall of 2008, gasoline just kept going up. The price peaked at $4.14.
But almost as quickly as prices jumped, they nearly collapsed. By December, retailers were charging $1.38.
Reggie Long, operational manager of A-1 Citgo in Roanoke, said the store's pump price is the sum of what gasoline delivered by a wholesaler costs, plus management's mark-up, which includes the profit.
Each time a tanker drops off a new load, it can trigger a change in the pump price. However, the fuel stored underground at the station is a mix of various deliveries and the pump price is a blend, too, he said.
In 2008, customers reacted with what looked like shock when asked to pay $4.
Long recalled hearing people say, "I'm walking."
Reactions to the $3 benchmark are more measured.
Long said customers tell him, "I might drive a little less."
Expand that to a bus company, and the same applies.
Abbott Trailways, a Roanoke bus transportation company that specializes in charter service, has expected higher fuel prices and "made some plans," safety officer Don Shepherd said.
If a driver is 500 miles or more from home, he or she will wait a day to pick up another transportation assignment in the region rather than drive back empty and then go back out. Abbott is paying $3.44 per gallon for diesel fuel. At these prices, the cost of putting up a driver will be less than the fuel wasted on an empty run, he said.
One goal is to avoid a price increase after implementing one in 2008, he said.
"Time's going to tell," he said. "Can't absorb but so much."
