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Here’s some good news for the beleaguered driver: Gas prices could drop to $3 a gallon by the end of the year.

And here’s some bad: It will probably take longer for North Carolina motorists to see those prices than it will for drivers in the rest of the continental United States.

The reason: Prices at N.C. stations averaged $3.76 a gallon Wednesday. That’s more than 30 cents above the U.S. average ($3.44) and behind only Alaska ($4.15) and Hawaii ($4.12).

Why so high?

“This is a hurricane hangover, and the hangover is at the pump,” said Tom Crosby, vice president for communications for AAA Carolinas in Charlotte. “There isn’t much hope for us, at this point, getting our prices down quickly.”

Crosby said that North Carolina gets most of its gas from the Gulf of Mexico, where Hurricanes Gustav and Ike damaged 55 oil wells and major refineries.

Until those are back in operation— perhaps in two or three weeks — N.C. drivers will continue to see spot shortages and higher prices than drivers in most other regions.

“Our supply is just about what we need to keep operating,” Crosby said. “We are not out of the crisis.”

There is one exception. Drivers along the coast can expect to pay 30 cents a gallon less than those elsewhere. That’s because some gasoline supplies enter the state through the port at Wilmington.

Some N.C. station operators have been forced to truck gas in from hundreds of miles away.

“We had to ship it from Jacksonville, Fla., to Charlotte just to get some of those stations wet,” said Pete Sodini, president of the Pantry, a Sanford-based chain that sells gas at convenience stores in 11 states.

“It cost us almost 30 cents a gallon to truck it in ... but we had no choice.”

Crosby said such efforts could help explain why drivers have seen such “a severe disparity” in prices from one part of the state to another or from one part of a city to another.

For example, according to greensborogasprices.com, prices in Greensboro on Wednesday ranged from $4.04 at the Autobell on High Point Road to $3.41 at the G&S Food Mart on Lawndale Drive.

Crosby said prices usually vary about 25 cents a gallon in a particular area, not more than 60. But the good news is that at most stations, prices are falling, Crosby said. “We’re just not catching up.”

As oil prices decline, industry experts predict that pump prices will follow — just not as far and fast.

“If crude oil prices stay where they are or go lower, we could see $3 a gallon gasoline in much of the country sometime later this year,” said Doug MacIntyre, a senior analyst with the Energy Information Administration in Washington. “If I knew (when) I might quit my job and become an oil trader.”

Crude oil prices closed Wednesday at $88.95 a barrel, down from a high of $147.52 on July 11.

McClatchy Newspapers contributed to this story.

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com