NEW YORK - More gas and oil records fell Monday as retail fuel prices struck highs and crude settled above $127 for the first time, tightening the squeeze on drivers planning holiday road trips next weekend.

ELON, N.C. - Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said Thursday that God blessed the nation with oil and gas resources and other forms of energy that should be tapped to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign suppliers.

Average gas prices around the East Valley dipped nearly 3 cents this week and a penny statewide.

NEW YORK - Gasoline and oil futures rose sharply Wednesday after the Energy Department reported an unexpected jump in gasoline demand and a big drop in supplies. Prices at the pump returned to record levels, and appeared poised to extend their march higher.

NEW YORK - Gasoline prices were poised Monday to set a new record at the pump, having surged to within half a cent of their record high of $3.227 a gallon. Oil prices, meanwhile, surged to $107.44, a new inflation-adjusted record and their fifth new high in the last six sessions on an upbeat report on wholesale inventories.

NEW YORK - Should you see rising costs next time you fill up your car with gas, send your thanks to BP, which just shut down one of its largest oil fields. This mess didn’t have to happen. BP, whose earnings topped $22 billion last year, has acknowledged slacking off on maintenance of feeder pipelines at the Prudhoe Bay field in Alaska that accounts for 8 percent of U.S. oil output.

WASHINGTON - Twenty-six countries in an international energy consortium will release more than 60 million barrels of crude oil and gasoline to relieve the energy crunch caused by Hurricane Katrina in the United States.

LONDON - Oil prices surged near $42 a barrel Monday as markets shrugged off a Saudi proposal that OPEC raise its official output target by 6 percent. Separately, the Energy Department said the average U.S. retail price of a gallon of gasoline passed $2 for the first time.

So President Obama wants to end so-called “tax loopholes” for American oil and gas companies? Sounds like a good idea, until you learn that what the president is really asking. The “Close the Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act” essentially asks American taxpayers and businesses to shoulder the economic brunt of the Administration’s ambitious green energy objectives.

The price of gas in Arizona crept up 3 more cents this week, despite the price of crude oil dropping from a multi-year high.

PENSACOLA, Fla. - Oil companies once viewed drilling in the deep waters off Florida as cost prohibitive. Politicians feared even the slightest sign of support would be career suicide.

NEW YORK - Oil futures surged to a record over $120 a barrel Monday, raising concerns about higher prices for gasoline and goods and services throughout the economy. Retail gas prices fell more than a cent over the weekend, but oil's advance increased the likelihood that pump prices would resume their climb.

NEW YORK - Gasoline and oil prices extended their record-setting streaks Wednesday, with gas at the pump reaching a new high of nearly $3.25 and crude surpassing $110 for the first time.

Oil prices hit another record Thursday, but gasoline prices continue to come down in the East Valley thanks to flat demand and higher inventories that sent wholesale margins down.

Crude used for East Valley gasoline comes from all over the world, but the process to get it from the field to the tank is controlled by a handful of big oil companies.

Permit a little reality check on just how long it takes to get things done in south Scottsdale since we are now in an election year and the folks running for office just might have some explaining to do.

The best example of how energy company profits ought to work in a free market can be seen in the price of natural gas.

WASHINGTON - The price of oil reached a new high Monday, settling at $41.72 per barrel as traders shrugged off Saudi Arabia’s pledge to immediately pump more crude because other OPEC members refuse to formally increase the cartel’s daily production quota.

ABOARD THE DISCOVERER DEEP SEAS - Nearly three football fields long, the ship appears to be sitting idle on the turquoise blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico, perhaps even abandoned.