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Squinting at the numbers rolling ever higher on the gas pump, Victor Hatcher finally cut off the supply to his blue 1965 Ford pickup truck at $40.

The 16-gallon tank could take more, but at $2.99 per gallon at the Shell station at 4701 Paseo del Norte N.E., $40 is about all Hatcher can handle.

"It eats it up," said Hatcher, 24, removing the nozzle from his tank. "I'm going to buy a 50-cc mo-ped. I hear they get about 80 miles to the gallon."

New Mexico's gas price average this week is $3.01 a gallon. That's inching close to the record set Aug. 8, 2006, of $3.09 a gallon, said Jeannie Chavez, a spokeswoman for AAA New Mexico.

And if some forecasts are correct, it could hit the previously unimaginable mark of $4 a gallon before the summer is over.

The problem, Chavez said, isn't the oil supply, but the speed at which U.S. refineries are converting the oil into gasoline.

January is usually the start of refinery maintenance season, and for some reason many refineries are taking longer to get back up and running than normal, Chavez said.

"I can't pinpoint it to one particular issue at a refinery," Chavez said. "This is causing the supply of gasoline to be lower than expected this time of year, and the demand for gas hasn't dropped."

The nature of many new state and national requirements aimed at cutting emissions are partly to blame. Those requirements call for a variety of different fuel blends, depending on the state you live in, and that's slowing down production, Chavez said.

"Making lots of different kinds of gas lessens the availability," Chavez said. "Although they supposedly run cleaner, which is good."

Across the nation, refinery production is at about 87 percent of full capacity. For prices to go down, they'd have to reach 97 percent or more, she said.

But with the summer driving season approaching, it could be a while before gas prices drop, she said.

"Americans love their vacations, and most people won't cancel because of high gas prices, even if they do cut a few corners," Chavez said. "That means demand will continue to get higher and higher for the summer."

Prices could easily top last year's record, she said.

Bloomberg News reported last week that $4 a gallon is not only possible, but probable. Business Week magazine responded a few days later that gas prices are nearing their peak, and that $4 isn't likely.

Regardless how high the price goes, Hatcher, who works as a dishwasher, busser and occasional waiter at a restaurant in Old Town, said his friends will have to pay their own way when they travel in his car.

"Just picking up friends, I usually don't ask them for gas money, but now I'm starting to have to ask them," Hatcher said.

He'll probably also start taking city buses more, he said.

That's not a bad idea, Chavez said. Neither is making sure your tires are properly inflated and your oil is changed on a regular basis, she said.

"If you maintain your vehicle and just make sure there's enough air in your tires, you can save up to 15 percent of your fuel costs," Chavez said. "People will put off getting those things done, not realizing they're throwing money out the tailpipe."

Also reducing the amount of stuff in your car can save money.

"For every 100 pounds that you leave at home and don't put in your vehicle, you save 2 percent of your fuel costs - so everybody needs to go on a diet," Chavez said with a laugh.

Eddie Johnson, 25, who was also gassing up at the Shell station Monday afternoon, said maintenance and excess weight aren't problems for him.

But his regular fuel-efficient car, a Geo Prism, has been broken for the past week. He's stuck driving a Ford F-150 pickup until the Prism is fixed, and the truck gets really bad gas mileage, he said.

"It's killing people like me who have to commute to Albuquerque from Los Lunas," Johnson said. "It's costing me $15 a day round-trip, whereas my car it's about $5 round-trip."

Still, his job repairing TVs pays enough that the rising prices aren't causing any real hardship, he said.

"You're paying maybe an extra $20 a week as the prices go up," Johnson said. "You should stay home if that's going to hurt you."