COLUMBUS, Ohio — Oil and gasoline prices continued a recession-defying march higher today, doubling in the past six months largely on optimism of a strengthening economy.

The predictions for just how high oil can reach this year, just like 2008, continue to creep upward just five months removed from crude priced around $32 per barrel.

Benchmark crude for July delivery rose $1.23 to settle at $66.31 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The gasoline-pump panic of 2008 has yet to surface, but that's not to say there haven't been some double-takes.

Wholesale gasoline prices, which typically rise during this time of the year, are up a staggering 140 percent since Christmas Eve. Retail gasoline prices have hit a national average of $2.467 a gallon, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. Pump prices are up 20 percent just in the past month.

But a gallon of gas is still $1.485 below the price a year ago and that, at its heart, is why you are unlikely to see the same price spikes this time around.

Crude prices have spiked 30 percent this month, enough to give anyone vertigo. But the pain is relative.

At this time last year, crude prices were brushing up against $130.

While crude has risen fast through May, we're still around $66.

For gas prices to hit $3, crude would need to go to about $100 a barrel, well above even the highest projections this year of $70 to $75, said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information service.