Click here to sign up. To subscribe, call 904.819.3430 Order Home Delivery Online Order or renew daily and Sunday home delivery of the Record for one year. Drivers could face a new round of surging prices at the gas pump this summer, the government says, citing tight supplies through the year's heaviest driving season. The Energy Department's forecast also anticipates continued high natural gas prices that are likely to fuel steeper electricity costs across much of the country.
Many power plants run on natural gas.
How much more will depend on supply and distribution problems, the department said. With current inventories tight, the gasoline markets will be ''vulnerable to sharp price run-ups if supply disruptions or bottlenecks occur,'' said the report, issued Friday by the Energy Information Administration. It said that by the end of May, the beginning of the summer driving season, gasoline inventories are expected to be about 200 million barrels, or 9 million barrels below what they were at the same time last summer. Even with refineries churning at top capacity, the low stocks ''are expected to remain low throughout the driving season'' making the market vulnerable to unexpected problems such as refinery or pipeline disruptions. Gasoline price flare-ups are likely to be regional and not nationwide, the report said.