Pittsburghers, brace yourselves: The pain you have been feeling at the pump is likely to get worse before the year's end.

The price of gasoline in Pittsburgh has risen to record highs this week, with local outlets charging between $3.07 and $3.49 yesterday for a gallon of regular unleaded. But industry observers say prices are poised to rise even higher in the next few weeks.

"We think there's room for the price nationally to set a new record," said Geoff Sundstrom, spokesman for AAA.

Fred Rozell, retail pricing director for the Oil Price Information Service, a Rockville, Md.-based provider of pricing information for the petroleum industry, said gasoline prices may rise by another 10 to 15 cents per gallon in coming weeks.

Fuel prices have been riding in the wake of crude oil's soaring flight toward $100 a barrel. After peaking last week at $98.62, December crude dropped to $91.17 Tuesday before rebounding to a $94.09 close yesterday. The turn was sparked in part by the expectation that this morning's inventory report from the Energy Information Administration will show a drop of as much as 700,000 barrels in available crude. Such a report would mark the fifth straight week of declining inventories. Last week's report had announced an 800,000-barrel drop to 311.9 million barrels, the lowest level since October 2005.

A second factor was the news that OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, had rejected a call by U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman to boost their output. OPEC said it would not discuss the possibility of production hikes until Dec. 5, when the group will hold a formal policy meeting in Abu Dhabi.

Whatever the causes, some say surging gasoline prices already have resulted in reduced consumption. Mr. Rozell said "[Gasoline] retailers that I've been talking to have been saying that demand … is down or flat."

Fuel prices also have been targeted as a cause behind sagging sales for many of the nation's leading non-gasoline retailers. In its most recent monthly report, Wal-Mart sales in stores that have been open at least a year were flat in October. Its competitors did even worse: Macy's sales were down 1.5 percent, J.C. Penney's down 1.8 percent and Kohl's off 3.8 percent.