NEW YORK (AP) -- The cost of filling up the family car climbed to a record high Tuesday, adding to the challenges consumers already face with falling home values and rising food prices.

Gas prices at the pump rose overnight to a record national average of $3.2272 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. That's a tad higher than the previous record of $3.2265, set last May.

Soaring gas prices worsen the financial plight of consumers already suffering through a downturn in the housing market that has sharply reduced home prices in many markets and limited Americans' ability to tap home equity for spending. Food prices are also on the rise, partly due to rising fuel costs.

''I used to think three bucks a gallon was all I'd pay, but I keep filling up,'' said Joe Gowans while gassing his Acura SUV in San Francisco one recent afternoon. ''You have to use it.''

A year ago, rising demand and a string of refinery outages had raised concerns about supplies. Now, the record price of crude oil is the culprit, propelling gas higher although supplies are at 15-year highs.

On Tuesday, light sweet crude for April delivery surged to a new trading record of $109.72 on the New York Mercantile Exchange before retreating after the Energy Department and International Energy Agency cut crude consumption forecasts for this year. Futures settled 85 cents higher at $108.75 a barrel, a new record.

Where gas and oil go from here is anybody's guess. Many analysts expect prices to moderate, while others predict oil could keep rising to $120 a barrel, or higher. And with demand for gas expected to rise as warm weather arrives, analysts say pump prices could spike as high as $3.75 a gallon, regardless of what happens with oil prices. The Energy Department on Tuesday raised its forecast of how high prices will rise this spring by a dime to $3.50 a gallon.

''I've got to say, if they ever go up to $3.50, that would be the point where I'd feel angry,'' said Alex Magby, a Morrisville, Pa., resident who was filling up his tank near his New Jersey restaurant job one recent afternoon. ''I'd feel cheated at that point.''

High prices are painful to New York cab drivers like Brandis Younge, who spends $35 to $40 on gas each day.

''Before it skyrocketed, I used to pay $25,'' Younge said.

Still, because gas is so expensive, analysts expect demand for fuel will rise more slowly this spring and summer than in previous years. Nationwide demand for gasoline is off by about 1 percent over the last 6 weeks, a trend analysts expect to accelerate if prices keep rising.

''We don't go visit family as much,'' said Steve Bagosy, of Pocono, Pa., while gassing up a company car in Manhattan Tuesday. ''Just try to stay local.''

The effect can be seen in states such as California, where prices are consistently 30 cents higher than the national average. Last November, the latest month for which data is available, demand for gasoline fell by 3.7 percent from the previous year in California as prices soared past $3.40 a gallon.

''It evokes a real reaction in demand destruction above $3.25 a gallon,'' said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service in Wall, N.J.

Prices have already passed the $4 mark at many stations nationwide. But Kloza thinks slower demand growth will prevent the national average from rising that high.

High gas prices may actually help some companies that rely on tourism. Carl Wilgus, executive director of the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau, said the number of skiers visiting the Pennsylvania ski region this winter was up, despite gas prices holding steady above $3 for most of that time. In part, that's because many people plan vacations closer to home when fuel is so expensive, he said, giving up a trip to Florida in favor of a ski vacation an hour away, he said.

''We'll definitely lose some visitation, but hopefully we'll gain some from the folks who hope to stay closer to home,'' Wilgus said.

The price of gassing a recreational vehicle may induce some to look for campgrounds closer to home this summer. At $3.50 a gallon, a 100-gallon Winnebago Destination RV will cost $350 to fill, $27 more than right now, and $96 more than a year ago.

Analysts believe oil's underlying supply and demand fundamentals do not support such high prices, and argue that crude's rise in recent months is mostly due to the falling dollar. Crude futures offer a hedge against a falling dollar, and oil futures bought and sold in dollars are more attractive to foreign investors when the dollar is weak.

The Energy Department and IEA, an energy consultant to western, industrialized nations, raised more concerns about the economic slowdown's impact on oil consumption Tuesday when both forecasters cut U.S. demand growth forecasts, but said strong demand overseas will keep prices elevated this year.

In other Nymex trading Tuesday, April heating oil futures rose 2.23 cents to settle at $2.9957 a gallon while April gasoline futures rose 1.12 cents to settle at $2.7261 a gallon.

April natural gas futures fell 2.4 cents to settle at $10 per 1,000 cubic feet on the Nymex.

In London, April Brent crude futures rose $1.09 to settle at $105.25 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

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AP Business Writers Tali Arbel in New York and Jordan Robertson in San Francisco contributed to this report.

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Reuters - Tuesday, March 11

Oil spike to last through 2008: OPEC president

"Just like the current surge in oil markets, the (world economic) - ALGIERS - Oil prices will stay at current high levels for the rest of this year due to speculation and geopolitical tensions, Algerian state media on Monday reported OPEC President Chakib Khelil as saying.Prices could retreat in 2009 with a recovery of the U.S. dollar in foreign exchange markets following the election of a new U.S. president, and as fundamentals reassert themselves as major market forces, he was reported as saying by government newspaper El Moudjahid and state news agency APS.

"Just like the current surge in oil markets, the (world economic) crisis, will last until the end of the year," he was quoted as saying by El Moudjahid.

"The oil market will stay above $100 during the current financial year, according to the assessment of Mr Khelil," APS said in a report on his remarks to Algerian reporters on Sunday.

It was not immediately clear which fiscal year APS was referring to.

Khelil, who is also Algerian Energy and Mines Minister, said the factors driving the market at present included "speculation, geopolitical tensions, particularly due to the Iranian nuclear affair and the crisis between Venezuela and ExxonMobil," APS reported.

The world economy could get some help with the arrival of a new U.S. president, and possibly a new economic policy, "and with this new situation it is very probable that the dollar will start to recover and thus permit a readjustment of the market," El Moudjahid quoted him as saying.

OPEC members meeting in Vienna last week decided to hold production flat, insisting markets were well supplied and blaming record prices on factors outside the group's control, including speculators and what Khelil called the "mismanagement" of the U.S. economy.

Speculators have piled into oil and other commodities as a hedge against the weaker dollar and inflation as the U.S. economy slows due to a credit crunch, the mortgage crisis and high energy costs.

Khelil said OPEC had left output unchanged because it wanted to assist global economic growth, El Moudjahid and APS reported.

The group made its decision in the knowledge that demand was expected to dip by 1.4 million barrels per day in the second quarter of the year and that stocks in consuming countries were at comfortable levels, Khelil said.

"If we had increased our production given all these factors, you wouldn't have been able to miss the impact on prices," he said, suggesting prices would have slid.

"We left our output unchanged so as not to disturb the market further and to help the world economy resume its momentum of growth," El Moudhajid quoted him as saying.