New York (Platts)--30May2008

As US retail gasoline prices move beyond $4/gal, some companies are
gearing up for $5/gal gasoline, according to one company that sells retail
service station signage.

"Everybody's going with fours and there are some buying fives, but that's
mostly gas stations with full service," said Guy Barnes, president of Fast-Ad
in Santa Ana, California.

Specifically, they are buying a "five point," or the larger font used to
denote five dollars, followed by a decimal.

Some stations in California have already hiked gasoline prices above
$5/gal, he noted. Barnes added that a bigger move by US majors and
independents toward $5/gal gasoline has not yet begun, according to his work
orders. But "if it doesn't slow up, everybody can see where it's going," he
said.

According to the American Automobile Association, the US average price of
regular unleaded gasoline was $3.962/gal on May 30, rising to $4.358/gal for
premium unleaded. California's average for regular unleaded was $4.198/gal,
with an average price of $4.542/gal for premium.

--Beth Evans, beth_evans@platts.com