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Government boosts forecast for pump prices

The government is boosting its forecast for gasoline prices this year following an 11 percent increase since the middle of December.

Pump prices should average $3.55 a gallon in 2013, according to the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the Energy Department. That’s up 11 cents from EIA’s forecast in January and would be the second-highest annual average ever, after last year’s $3.63 a gallon.

The national average was $3.61 on Monday, the EIA says. It was $3.25 on Dec. 17.

The EIA primarily pins the increase on higher oil prices. Brent crude, the benchmark for many international varieties of oil imported to the U.S., rose $10 a barrel from mid-December to early February. That equates to about 24 cents per gallon of gas, the EIA says.

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