. >> reporter: anthony grisanti has been trading oil at the new york mercantile exchange for more than 20 years, so he is used to unpredictable moves in energy prices. but even grisanti is baffled by the recent rise in gasoline prices at both the wholesale and retail levels. >> to have gasoline, say $3 at the pump for christmas is unheard of. usually the fourth quarter is the time when there's least demand for gasoline. so, i'm very surprised at that. >> reporter: according to aaa, prices at the pump are now averaging $3.05 a gallon nationwide, a 13% increase in three months. blame rising crude prices, which have traded at two year highs for most of december. morningstar's allen good says the rally is being driven by strong energy demand from asia. >> despite small increases here in the u.s., a lot has been driven by china and emerging markets. so, while we really haven't seen any additional production capacity come online the past two years, we have seen demand recover to levels seen in 2008, when oil prices were about $90 per barrel. >> reporter: the big debate is where energy prices