Retail gasoline broke all of the usual seasonal patterns in 2007 and the past week was no exception, the Energy Department figures showed Monday, as pump prices rose nationally at a time of year when prices are normally on the decline.

The year that motorists will be only too happy to see in their rear view mirrors ended with the national average at $3.053 for a gallon of self-serve regular, up 7.3 cents from the previous Monday, according to the Energy Department’s weekly survey of filling stations. A year ago, the average was 72 cents lower. The new year could be even more expensive at the pump as oil holds above $95 a barrel. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil futures for February delivery fell two cents to $95.98 a barrel on Monday, ending the year up nearly $35, or 60 percent, after trading as high as $99.29 on Nov. 21.

The latest commitment reports from traders to the Commodities Futures Trading Commission show “the most bullish year-end sentiment ever” that energy prices will rise in the coming weeks, a traditionally low-demand period, said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service in New Jersey.

“We are continuing to march higher and whether we are talking about sleepy investment houses or cowboy market traders, the betting is on a substantial price appreciation for gasoline in the spring. The most conservative say 10 to 20 cents and some think it could be as high as a dollar,” Kloza said.

The year was marked by a steady 87.5 cent climb in the national average gasoline price to $3.209 a gallon between Jan. 1 and the Memorial Day weekend, the traditional start of the summer driving season. Along the way, Californians paid a record $3.461 a gallon on May 7 and the U.S. average set a record of $3.218 a gallon on May 21.

Blame was laid on an unusual number of refinery outages and strong demand. By Labor Day, usually the biggest driving weekend of the year, prices had dropped to an average of $2.796 a gallon before beginning their unusual late-year climb.

Demand has remained higher than normal across the U.S. throughout the year, except in California. Judy Chu, vice chairwoman of the state Board of Equalization, released third quarter figures Monday that showed the sixth consecutive quarterly decline in gasoline consumption in the state. In the third quarter of 2007, Californians used 3.98 billion gallons of gasoline, 46.2 million gallons fewer than they did in the same period in 2006.

But not everyone was bullish in predicting record high gasoline and oil prices in 2008.

David Beavers, a commodities broker at the Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago said he expected a slowing U.S. economy and continuing fallout from the sub-prime real estate loan meltdown would lead to reduced demand for oil, which would pull down gasoline prices.

“We think oil will trade at around $92 a barrel for the next three weeks, but drop to $58 to $65 by the end of the year. We expect demand for gasoline to come down over the next six to eight months and prices around $2.70 a gallon nationally. We are a lot more bearish than most of the people out there,” Beavers said.

At least one analyst said that the low value of the dollar was one factor in why oil producers probably won’t raise production any time soon. Oil is traded in U.S. dollars.

“You cannot just expect oil producers to increase production when we keep giving them currency that isn’t worth as much,” said Fadel Gheit, senior energy analyst for Oppenheimer and Co. “If they increase production, they will be are digging a hole under their own feet.”

AP-NY-12-31-07 2014EST