Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said Monday he will ask the federal government to investigate wholesale gasoline price spikes that recently have led to higher prices at the pump.

The Gasoline & Automotive Service Dealers of America asked Blumenthal to investigate after wholesale gasoline prices in Connecticut rose 54 cents a gallon since Feb. 19. Retailers have been footing the bill from wholesale suppliers, despite the fact that national inventories are at an 18-year high and demand is at a seven-year low, said Michael J. Fox, executive director of the Stamford-based group.

Fox says the price hikes are counterintuitive, even with the routine uptick in travel associated with the spring and coming summer season.

"If we're swimming in it, it should be going down, not going up" in price, Fox said of the deep inventories.

Added Blumenthal: "Consumers should be very troubled about these trends because they defy the law of supply and demand."

At $2.37 a gallon - a full $1.54 below what it was last year at this time - the average regular gasoline price in Connecticut might be considered a bargain. Yet only a week ago, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report, the average price was 17 cents less, and a month ago it was 24 cents less.

Madeline Raddatz of New London paid $2.43 a gallon Monday for mid-grade gasoline as she filled up at the Sunoco station on Route 1 in Waterford, where regular gas was $2.31 a gallon.

"We were doing good for a while, but all of a sudden it's gotten to be ridiculous again," she said. "It seems like we get zapped and gouged at this time of year."

Blumenthal envisions an antitrust probe that puts an end to what Fox and consumers call price gouging. He is contacting the antitrust division of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general in other states.

The length of the probe "will depend on how quickly other states and the federal government join forces with the state of Connecticut and how promptly we can devote resources to this investigation," he said.

On the retail front, from East Lyme to Groton, prices varied substantially Monday, but those at most stations already topped the most recent projected national summer high of $2.30 a gallon. The price for regular ranged from a low of $2.24 a gallon at the Stop & Shop outlet in East Lyme to a high of $2.36 a gallon at the Hess station on Route 1 in Waterford.

At the Energy Information Administration, which in April predicted average national summer retail prices of $2.23 a gallon, one energy information specialist, Jonathan Cogan, has a quick answer for the price run-up: Crude oil is flirting with $60 a barrel, from $40 a few weeks ago. Again, Fox wants to know why.

Suppliers are selling gasoline to retailers based on nearly $60 a barrel for crude oil, but those suppliers are not through their $30-a-barrel inventory, Fox said.

"Is that not gouging?" he asked.

Neil Gamson, an EIA economist, said crude oil is selling for more today because suppliers "price things generally for what you can sell it for."

"It's what the market will bear," Gamson said. "The low prices and the low economy sort of offset each."

At the same time, he said, Connecticut's gasoline prices are always higher than the national average, noting that New Jersey's average price Monday was only $2.11 a gallon.

"So much depends on what the crude oil prices do," Gamson said. "If the economy starts improving, and I don't think anyone's talking about it improving until the end of the year, that could increase crude oil prices. Then again, they're not four dollars" a gallon at the pump like they were last summer.

The price of gas may not rise much more because, despite the higher price of crude oil, demand remains "relatively weak," according to AAA spokesman Jim MacPherson.

"Certainly, we're not anticipating anything close to the record price increases we saw last year," he said.

EIA's monthly short-term energy outlook, which contains forecasts for summer, will be issued today.

P.DADDONA@THEDAY.COM