May 27, 2004 (The Hartford Courant - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via COMTEX) -- So how much pain at the pumps will motorists experience this Memorial Day weekend?

Fueling up a vehicle will cost about 34 percent more this year, compared with last year, according to the AAA daily price survey.

On Wednesday, that meant paying an average of $2.14 for regular self-serve across Connecticut, according to the survey.

A year ago, motorists paid an average of $1.60 a gallon.

Expect to pay even more in Fairfield County, where Wednesday's price averaged $2.18 a gallon. In the Hartford area, the average price was $2.13.

"Everything's still being driven by crude oil," said Steve Guveyan, executive director of the Connecticut Petroleum Council, which represents the major oil companies.

Crude oil futures have traded at more than $41 a barrel in recent weeks, up about 39 percent from the previous year, according to Bloomberg News.

On Wednesday, the price for West Texas Intermediate closed at $40.70 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Industry executives said gasoline imports have also gone down in recent weeks, possibly because foreign refiners did not want to modify their plants to meet new sulfur specifications the federal government imposed on Jan. 1.

AAA spokesman Jim MacPherson said higher prices tend to come hand in hand with economic recovery because of the increased demand for fuel.

He also said the higher prices are not expected to stop a lot of people from heading for popular destinations, such as Boston, Cape Cod, and the Maine and New Jersey coastlines.

"As always, you want to shop around," he said. "The highest prices are closest to the highways."

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