--Retail gasoline price to peak at $4.01/gallon in May

--Summer gasoline to average $3.95/gallon this year

--WTI crude oil to average $106/bbl this year

(Adds information in the first three paragraphs.)

By Dan Strumpf 

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
 
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Retail gasoline prices are expected to peak at $4.01 a gallon during the summer driving season and should average $3.95 a gallon this summer, the U.S. Energy Department said Tuesday.

The department's Energy Information Administration raised its forecasts for both numbers in its monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook. Last month, the EIA said it expected prices to peak at just $3.96 a gallon in May and to average $3.92 this summer.

If the estimates come to pass, the average price for retail gasoline during the upcoming summer driving season would eclipse the previous record high of $3.804 a gallon in 2008.

For the entire year, regular gasoline prices should average $3.81 a gallon in 2012, falling to $3.73 a gallon in 2013, according to the EIA

The EIA left its crude-oil price forecast for this year unchanged, saying it expects benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude oil to average about $106 a barrel in 2012. WTI should also average $106 a barrel in 2013, the EIA said.

The forecaster said it expects WTI to continue trading at a discount to other crude oils due to transportation bottlenecks in the U.S. This means that the refiner acquisition cost of crude oil should average a more-expensive $112 a barrel in 2012 and $110 a barrel in 2013. In 2011, the acquisition cost averaged $101.90 a barrel.

Diesel-fuel prices are expected to average $4.21 this summer, peaking at $4.25 a gallon during the middle of the driving season, which runs from May to September.

-By Dan Strumpf, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2818; dan.strumpf@dowjones.com

http://online.wsj.com