Gasoline prices in the United States continue their seemingly inexorable path higher, putting up an average price per gallon of $3.46 on Tuesday, the 25th consecutive day that prices have increased. On the same day last year, the average U.S. price of a gallon of gas reached $3.746, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge report.

The Nymex April contract for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude traded down 1.41% in the noon hour Tuesday at $103.44, and the April contract for Brent was down 1.51% at $109.52. Both prices were down from highs posted Monday on worries about the flow of oil related to Russia’s intervention in Ukraine.

U.S. gasoline inventories dropped 2.8 million barrels last week, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). But it is not declining inventories that may keep pump prices ticking up. U.S. refineries have begun their transition from cheaper winter to more costly summer fuels, and as that fuel reaches the storage tanks, and ultimately local gas stations, prices will increase.

There is also some thinking among traders that demand for gasoline will swell through 2014, and until they are convinced otherwise, they will continue to bid up the price. The chief oil analyst at Gasbuddy.com thinks that a gallon of regular cost may rise to $3.60 to $3.75 by Easter, some 35 to 40 cents higher than the lows from last autumn.

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