Gas prices in Hawaii set record

The average price for a gallon of regular gas in Hawaii hit $4.597 today, setting a new record in a state that already has the highest gas prices in the country, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported. The old record, set in May 2011, was $4.594 a gallon.

The price of gas in Hawaii has increased about 25 cents in the last month and is about 33 cents higher than the same time last year, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

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Currently, the average price of a gallon of regular gas nationally is $3.925. However, Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service, said he expects the national average for gas to reach $4.05 per gallon by mid-April, and possibly peak at $4.25 after that, the Washington Post reported. The highest national average price for gas Americans have seen is $4.11, which US drivers paid in 2008.

Besides Hawaii, average gas prices have topped $4 a gallon in Illinois, Alaska, California and Washington, DC, the Washington Post reported.

Transportation experts weren’t expecting gas prices to shoot up this much two months before summer driving season, the Washington Post reported. “It took five months to reach this in 2011, and that took place just on the cusp of the summer driving season,” John B. Townsend II, AAA Mid-Atlantic’s manager of public and government affairs, told the Washington Post. “But this time around, for no apparent rhyme or reason other than exceptionally high crude oil prices, it is occurring less than three months into the year.”

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