Hurricane Katrina showed them they could get away with it.

NEW YORK - The upward trend in energy prices showed no sign of abating Wednesday as gasoline set yet another record at the pump and crude oil flirted with its own milestone in the futures market.

The national average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas rose 1.2 cents to a record $3.343 a gallon, according to a survey of gas stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. With the peak summer driving season still to come and gas following crude higher, the fuel may well reach the retail price of $4 a gallon that the Energy Department has been forecasting.

But prices that are 55 cents higher than a year ago are hurting demand for gasoline, which fell last week by nearly 2 percent from year-earlier levels, the department’s Energy Information Administration said in its weekly inventory report.

“People are cutting back on gasoline purchases because the economy is squeezing them right now,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago.