The cost of doing business has risen sharply for Pink Jeep Tours in recent weeks.

The 18-vehicle tour operator is spending $15,000 a month on gasoline this summer, up from $12,000 a month last summer.

"We've eaten a little bit of dust," said Alix Reed, general manager of the company. "We've had to take a hit."

That hit got even bigger on Tuesday, when gasoline prices in Las Vegas hit a record high for the second day in a row.

AAA Nevada reported an average of $2.55 for one gallon of regular, unleaded gasoline in Las Vegas on Tuesday, up from $2.53 on Monday. The city's previous record came on April 14, when gasoline cost $2.53 a gallon.

Statewide, the average reached a new record of $2.58 per gallon, up from $2.57 on Monday, and 24 cents higher than Tuesday's national average of $2.34. Nevada's average is the nation's third-highest, after California and Hawaii.

Nevadans are paying more for their gasoline for two primary reasons, said AAA spokesman Sean Comey: First, gasoline taxes here are among the highest in the country, with a state tax of 23 cents per gallon and county taxes of up to 10 cents per gallon, on top of the 18.4 cents the federal government levies.

Second, the state's gasoline supply comes entirely from California refineries, making Nevada more vulnerable to short-term refinery disruptions. A fire last month at Chevron Corp.'s El Segundo, Calif., refinery reduced production, but mostly of diesel fuel.

Nationally, gasoline prices are rising along with the cost of crude oil, a key gasoline component that reached a record high on Monday of $63.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices closed slightly lower on Tuesday, at $63.07 a barrel.

Energy analysts blame the week's price spikes on several global developments.

Michael Darda, chief economist at equity trader MKM Partners in Greenwich, Conn., said as much as half the current price of crude oil is an "Armageddon premium" based on concerns about future terror attacks.

"The imbalance between (too little) supply and (too much) demand has actually been diminishing, yet prices are going higher," Darda said. "I think that is being driven by a strong global economy bumping up against fears of supply disruption in the future based on the potential for increasing chaos in the Middle East."

The July 31 death of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd has raised questions about the stability of the country's leadership, Darda said. And AAA's Comey said Iran's pursuit of weapons-grade plutonium has also "fueled uncertainty about the reliability of the supply of oil."

Also looming over supply is a busy hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean, which could affect major oil production and distribution centers on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Supply worries propel oil prices upward because futures traders, concerned about what crude oil will cost if disruptions occur, buy heavily now to hedge their bets on higher prices later. That futures-buying binge is affecting consumers and businesses across Las Vegas.

Reed, of Pink Jeep Tours, said her company is considering imposing a fuel surcharge this fall, after the busy summer season has ended.

"We were just really hoping prices would stabilize a little bit and that we could get through the year without bigger (fuel) increases, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen," Reed said. "We have a surcharge on the drawing board. It's just a matter of when we put it in."

Reed said she wasn't sure what the surcharge would cost -- the federal Transportation Security Administration must vet the company's proposal and state an acceptable rate, she said.

However, Reed estimated the charge would be around $3 per customer. Pink Jeep Tours charges $74 for a tour of Hoover Dam, $85 for a trip to Red Rock Canyon and $189 for a trek to the Grand Canyon's western rim.

Rising prices are also pinching local gasoline retailers.

Jon Athey, director of operations for City Stop's nine area gasoline stations, said competitive pressures keep him and other retailers from boosting prices at the pump to make up for higher charges from oil producers.

City Stop stations are buying gasoline from Shell Oil at $2.55 per gallon this week, Athey said, so he set prices on Tuesday at $2.57 to $2.59 a gallon. And because dealers sign contracts with a single company, they can't shop for better deals from a different producer each day.

"When people ask me why the major oil companies charge as much as they do, my pat answer is, `Because they can,' " Athey said. "We expect to make 6 to 8 cents a gallon on fuel, but we can't make that profit right now because of those price pressures. It's very hard when your prices are increasing as dramatically as they are. You have a feeling of helplessness when you know there's not much you can do about it except cut your own margin to take care of your customers."

Lisa Hassinger, manager of the Durango Park Chevron station at 8635 W. Spring Mountain Road, said the store is losing 5 cents per gallon on gasoline sales. The store's profit comes instead from slot machines and food sales inside the store, she said.

"We have to be really careful. We're being as competitive as we can be," Hassinger said. "If we're a penny higher than anybody down the street, our sales will suffer. It's amazing how much a penny per gallon will mean to people."

Yet consumers are buying more fuel. Athey said sales of gasoline are up 8 percent this year over a comparable period in 2004. He added that he wouldn't expect a dip in purchasing unless prices reached about $3 a gallon. "We have to travel, we have to have cars, and we have to be able to get around," Athey said.

So how close is the market to $3 a gallon? Just a refinery accident away, said David Hackett, president of Stillwater Associates, an energy consulting company in Irvine, Calif.

"Diesel fuel in California has already reached $3 a gallon," Hackett said. "It is entirely possible" that the rest of the market could follow, he said.

"It's going to be a matter of how well refineries run," Hackett said. "So far this year, refineries in California have had a good year."

Gasoline production in California is up 2 percent this year compared with last year -- the first "real rise" in production in the past three to four years, Hackett said. Plus, manufacturing crude oil and gasoline has become so profitable that producers and refiners are beginning to invest in increasing production capacity, Hackett said, though any effect on prices might take several years to materialize.

Darda, of MKM Partners, said he believes current oil and gasoline prices are "overextended" based on supply and demand and crude oil's value compared with other commodities. He added that both fuel conservation and investment in production will eventually overcome the "terror premium" in crude-oil prices.

"There's always a potential for prices to go higher because they're being driven by fear and a lot of what-ifs," Darda said. "All you need is a couple of political events to reinforce those fears. But over the longer term, my bias is (downward prices) because the profits are so great in terms of finding, producing, distributing and selling crude oil at these prices. The fair-market value for crude in a normal world is $30 (per barrel). I think six to 12 months from now, we're more likely to have crude-oil prices at $40 (per barrel), not $80."