Increased oil production doesn't promise lower pump prices

WASHINGTON- Motorists coping with high gasoline prices might not see lower pump prices for months as a result of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' increase oil production. Even then, cheaper gasoline might not come in time for the busy summer driving season.

But Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, in an interview Wednesday, said he is convinced the new production levels will offer gradual and modest reductions in prices during the summer.

The department's statistical agency estimates that gasoline, now averaging $1.55 a gallon nationwide, likely will cost about $1.42 per gallon by summer's end. Richardson believes those projections are conservative and he cited prices on the futures market that suggested wholesale gas prices would decline as much as 15 cents by July.

OPEC agreed to increase production by 1.7 million barrels a day and other producers were expected to expand production as well to fill a 2-million-barrel-a-day shortfall that has tripled crude prices over the last 14 months.

The Energy Information Administration earlier this month had said gasoline prices could spike to $1.80 - and even $2 in some areas - this summer if additional oil is delayed getting into the market and perhaps even higher if refineries have problems.

Meanwhile, the high gasoline prices continued to fuel heated political exchanges in Congress where GOP leaders in the Senate planned to consider, perhaps as early as Thursday, a rollback of the federal 18.4-cent gasoline tax by 4.3 cents.

- compiled by staff and wire reports