Gas prices could soar, analyst says

HOUSTON, June 25 (UPI) -- Oil prices at $200 a barrel would push gas to $6.64 a gallon, economists at Rice University in Texas said.

Presenting an analysis conducted by Rice University energy fellow Kenneth Medlock, Amy Jaffe, also an energy fellow, said "the price of oil is the single most important factor in determining the price of gasoline."

The correlation includes crude at $10 a barrel matched with 92 cent per gallon gasoline, the Houston Chronicle reported Wednesday.

With oil at $70 a barrel, gas prices jump to $2.73 a gallon.

Crude oil is currently hovering near $132 per barrel and gas prices at $4 a gallon, but some say the price of crude could rise to $200 a barrel within a year.

The current price escalation is the longest on record, Mark Finley, BP America's general manager of global energy market said.

"For the first time in the history of the oil industry prices have gone up for six years in a row," Finley said.