OCR Text |
Show ^3£ Turning Memories info feeepsa/ces Wedding Photography Copyright Release Packages starting at $499.00 435-512-0131 www.bebeautifulphotography.com Our Editor is Leaving. Yes, it's true. Sad, but true that we are approaching change at The Statesman. If you think you have the skills and superhuman abilities to take our editor's place, please see the adviser of The Utah Stateman, TSC 105, before Friday, April 18, noon. News Page 4 Wednesday, April 9, 2008 Gas prices could hit $4 a gal. NEW YORK (AP)-Retail gas prices could climb as high as $4 a gallon this summer, but prices at such lofty levels will make many Americans think twice about hitting the road this summer, the Energy Department said Tuesday. High prices and a weak economy are expected to cut demand for gasoline by about 0.4 percent during the peak summer driving season, the department's Energy Information Administration said in a monthly report on petroleum supplies and demand. Overall consumption of petroleum products will drop by 90,000 barrels a day this year. Previously, the EIA had projected petroleum consumption would rise by 40,000 barrels a day. Average monthly gas prices will peak around $3.60 a gallon in June, the EIA said. However, prices could rise much higher than that at times. "It is important to note... that even if the national average monthly gasoline price peaks around $3.60 per gallon this summer, it is possible that prices at some point will cross the $4 per gallon threshold," the EIA said. The government had previously estimated that average monthly prices would peak near $3.50 a gallon. Many analysts predict prices will peak close to $4 a gallon. On Tuesday, gas prices slipped slightly to a national average of $3,331 a gallon from Monday's record of $3,339, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Prices are 55 cents higher than a year ago. Diesel prices, which are already averaging more than $4 a gallon nationwide, will average $3.62 a gallon this year, up 74 cents from 2007, the EIA said. Diesel fuel is used to transport the vast majority of the world's food, consumer and industrial products. High diesel prices are one of the reasons food prices are soaring. Crude oil prices are the biggest reason gas and diesel prices are rising, the EIA said. Oil is now expected to aver- age $101 a barrel this year, up from the EIA's previous projection of $94. Next year, the EIA expects oil to average $92.50 a barrel, up from a previous projection of $86. On Tuesday, light, sweet crude for May delivery fell 13 cents to $108.96 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. But prices fluctuated as investors kept an eye on the dollar and on Iran, which announced plans to expand its uranium enrichment program. Prices rose to a trading record of $111.80 a barrel last month. While high prices are damping demand in the U.S., petroleum consumption remains strong in China, India, Russia and the Middle East, the EIA said. "The combination of rising world oil consumption and low surplus production capacity is putting upward pressure on oil prices," the EIA report said. "The flow of investment money into commodities has contributed to crude oil price volatility." Indeed, the EIA acknowledged "significant uncertain- ty" in its oil price projections, noting that unexpected supply disruptions due to conflict in oil-producing nations, unusual weather or refinery outages could send prices spiraling sharply higher. "Prices can fall as rapidly under a different set of cir-; cumstances, such as easing of geopolitical tensions or further weakening of U.S. and world economic growth," the EIA's report said. ; The EIA report underscored the difficulties refiners are facing, despite high gas prices. Refiners have to buy the crude they process into fuel. But falling demand for gasoline prevents refiners from raising gas prices enough to keep up with the soaring price of crude.; • "These projections indicate a narrowing of the difference between the gasoline retail! price and ihe average cost of crude oil." EIA said. | The EIA also projected that OPEC oil production will average 32.3 million barrels a day this year, up about lOO.OOp! barrels a day from previous forecasts. -! Six kidney transplants performed at once BALTIMORE (AP)-Johns Hopkins surgeons transplanted a half-dozen kidneys simultaneously, an operation believed to be the first of its kind, hospital officials announced Tuesday. The transplants conducted Saturday were made possible when a so-called altruistic donor, who was willing to donate to anyone, was found to be a match for one of six transplant candidates. Five of the candidates had a willing donor whose kidney was incompatible with their particular friend or relative, but a match for another of the six. The 10-hour surgeries used six operating rooms and nine surgical teams. "All 12 are doing great, the six kidneys are working well," said Dr. Robert Montgomery, director of Hopkins' transplant center and head of the transplant team. The six-way transplant follows a quintuple transplant performed in 2006 at the hospital and several triple transplants. Last week, doctors at Chicago's Northwestern Memorial Hospital performed simultaneous transplants of four kidneys. Most kidney transplants use organs taken from people who have died, but doctors prefer organs from live donors because the success rates are higher. The donors and recipients in the six-way transplant were matched using a livingdonor system developed at Johns Hopkins. Montgomery said the surgeries are performed simultaneously to ensure no one backs out after their loved one has received a kidney. Montgomery has advocated a wider system of connecting altruistic donors, transplant candidates and incompatible but willing donors to increase the number of available organs. Randy Bolten, whose brother is President Bush's chief c(f staff. Josh Bolten, was among the donors. He couldn't donate a kidney to his wife, Jeanne^ • Heise, but he was a match for another recipient. -•] Heise, who has suffered \ from kidney disease for mor;e than 30 years, was about to go on dialysis when the chain of transplants became possible. "We want to spread the;! word about this sort of group surgery and living organ donation," Heise said in a statement issued by the National Kidney Foundation of Northern ' California. |