Market economics, futures, Iran tensions, blah blah blah.
The stations around here pegged it at 2.99/gal for the weekend because they could and because they knew anything over would cause more of a stink. Oil is getting more expensive, but the pump prices are being set/raised artificially and arbitrarily. End of discussion.
Not the end. Not event the beginning of the end. If I owned a gas station, why would I wait till the next batch of higher priced fuel is delivered to raise prices? The oil buisiness is a very capital intensive business prone to dramatic price swings. When prices go down, retailers lose money, because their existing inventory is more expensive than their future inventory will be. If my competitor across the street gets a new shipment at a lower cost than my inventory, he could lower his posted price and divert buisiness to his store. People will cross the street just to save a penny a gallon. When oil prices decrease, retailers often have no choice but to match the prices of their competitors even at a loss.