It's official: Gas crosses $4

By MSN Money staff and wire reports

The average price of a gallon of regular gas crept past $4 for the first time in U.S. history over the weekend, and that doesn't reflect the furious two-day surge that pushed oil prices to a record-shattering $139 a barrel on Friday.

That, says one expert, will add as much as 20 cents in the coming weeks.

While Americans who have to drive will feel the biggest squeeze, the increased prices also translate into higher costs for consumers and businesses, who will be forced to shoulder increased costs for food and anything else that needs to be transported.

"I don't think we've felt quite the full impact of $138 or $139 a barrel oil," said Jason Toews, co-founder of fuel price research site GasBuddy.com.

Gas prices rolled past their latest threshold Sunday, increasing to $4.005 a gallon overnight from $3.988 the day before, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.

• Talk back: What should be done about high gas prices?

Of course, drivers in many parts of the country have already been paying well above that price for some time.

California has seen some of the highest prices; a gallon there now averages $4.436 a gallon, the most in the country. Missourians are paying the least at the pump, with a gallon in the Show-Me State selling for a relatively cheap $3.802 a gallon. A total of 15 states have crossed the $4 mark.

Prices have risen by about 20 cents in the past three weeks, according to a report by the Lundberg Survey released Sunday.

Truckers and others with diesel engines under the hood have it even worse off. A gallon of diesel now sells for $4.762, up nearly a penny overnight, according to AAA and OPIS. Prices hit a record atop $4.79 at the end of May.

No one expected this

Skyrocketing oil prices, which are trading at more than double their level last year, are largely to blame for the surge. Crude prices shot up more than 13% late last week. Friday’s gain of $10.75 a barrel was the biggest in history; Thursday’s the second-biggest.

Benchmark light, sweet crude for July delivery officially finished the week at $138.54 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, but at one point jumped as high as $139.12.

"If crude oil prices stay at nearly $139 a barrel, a 30-cent rise (for a gallon of gas) over the next few weeks is possible," said analyst Trilby Lundberg, whose publication surveys about 7,000 gasoline stations.

Continued: We're driving less

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