News bites: Pondering $5 per gallon gasoline

The New York Times has a front-page story on the possibility that gasoline prices could surge to $5 per gallon.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Shell is taking the fight to environmentalists as the oil giant seeks to drill off Alaska’s coast.

“Royal Dutch Shell launched an extraordinary preemptive legal strike Wednesday against opponents of offshore oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean, filing suit against more than a dozen environmental organizations likely to challenge its plan for drilling exploratory wells in the Chukchi Sea this summer,” the paper reports.

The Associated Press reports on polling data showing that “Americans' belief in global warming is on the rise, along with temperatures and surprising weather changes.”

Reuters looks at the oil market effects of sanctions against Iran.