DETROIT – New terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabias oil-rich eastern provinces appear to have dashed hopes that the price of gasoline might finally begin to level out and continues to worry Big Three automakers about the impact on gas guzzling sport utility vehicle sales.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries had started to ramp up production and non-OPEC producers such as Russia also began to raise the exports of crude oil. However, experts said the bloody assault on oil-company employees in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, is certain to push the price of crude higher despite the increase in supply. In any event oil ministers from Venezuela and Saudi Arabia cautioned that part of the price increase probably is permanent.
Meanwhile, the rising price of gasoline is beginning to have an adverse impact on the larger economy, according to a trio of new surveys. The University of Michigans closely watched Index of Consumer Sentiment dropped in May. Economists blamed the four-point drop, to 90.2, on rising gas prices and the unsettling news from Iraq.
To read the rest of this story, click on TheCarConnection.Com
