RELATED DEVELOPMENTS IN IRAQ

Battle for refinery rages on

IRBIL, Iraq

The battle for control of Iraq’s largest oil refinery continued Thursday, various reports said, as U.S. officials weighed how to respond to the militant threat facing the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Iraqi authorities said government forces successfully fought off an attack on the refinery in Baiji by fighters affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.

But other reports indicated that the Sunni Muslim insurgents have not been completely expelled from the sprawling facility about 125 miles north of Baghdad, a key link in Iraq’s energy chain. Smoke was seen billowing from the complex, according to various accounts.

Losing the refinery would be a strategic and symbolic blow for the Iraqi government, which is trying to regroup after a series of military defeats.

Violence raises gas prices

Violence in Iraq is helping to make gasoline in the U.S. more expensive, depriving drivers of the usual price break between Memorial Day and July Fourth.

Global oil prices have risen 5 percent since an insurgency took over two Iraqi cities. Any sustained increase in oil and gasoline prices can damp economic growth.

In the U.S., the average price of $3.68 per gallon is the highest price for this time of year since 2008, the year gasoline hit its all-time high. The good news is that gasoline is not likely to spike above $4 as it did 6 years ago, experts say. Or even cross $3.90, as in 2011 and 2012.“You are going to pay a little more than we thought you were going to pay,” says Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service and GasBuddy.com.

VINDICATOR WIRE REPORTS

“But you are not going to see any apocalyptic numbers.”