It also has forced up the cost of laying down pavement for new roads, filling in the potholes of aging parking lots or reconditioning a home's leaky roof with a new layer of three-tab asphalt shingles.

"The price of asphalt these days is outrageous," said Ron Case of Ron Case Roofing and Asphalt Paving in Salt Lake City. "Every month or so, it seems, we're getting hit with another 7 percent to 10 percent increase in price. And like gasoline, there's nothing we can really do about it. We have to have it."

Asphalt is made by mixing crushed stone or gravel with bitumen, a heavy tar-like substance left over after gasoline, kerosene, jet fuel and diesel fuel are refined out of crude oil. Bitumen, which is sold by the ton, also is known as asphalt oil.

Since January 2006, the cost of a ton of asphalt oil in Utah has risen from $192.50 to $395, a more than 100 percent increase, according to the Argus Asphalt Report, a weekly publication that tracks the asphalt market worldwide.

"Last year we were facing a shortage of asphalt, and when the price went up, a lot of paving companies were caught flatfooted," said Richard Thorn, chief executive of the Associated General Contractors of Utah.

The shortage was caused by high demand from a booming construction industry and a drop in volume from refineries that had to install new equipment to produce low-sulfur diesel fuel that was mandated by the federal government. The production of low-sulfur diesel results in significantly less asphalt oil.

"As a result [of that shortage] we saw several big [paving] projects pushed back to this year," Thorn said.

Prices today may be up over 2006, but the surprise is out of the market.

"The big positive is that we weren't blindsided this year like we were in 2006," Thorn said. "Our paving companies planned ahead. Some had to go as far as Montana and Texas to get what they needed. It still was expensive, but they found it."

Like the retailers who sell gasoline, the producers who buy asphalt oil from refineries and mix it with gravel to produce the pavement laid down on most roads and highways in the state aren't getting rich.

"We're paying higher prices like everyone else," said Scott Parson, chief executive of Staker Parson Cos., one of Utah's largest asphalt producers. "And while we may have a long-term supply contract [to acquire asphalt oil], if the refinery goes down and there isn't anything to buy, it can be a problem."

Many oil refineries are away from selling bitumen. In recent years many have invested in specialized equipment that allows them to break apart the long petrochemical molecular chains found in asphalt oil into smaller pieces so it, too, can be refined into more valuable gasoline and diesel fuel.

Additional research and development efforts remain under way to find still better ways to wring even more gasoline from each barrel of oil.

Headwaters Inc., the synthetic fuels and building materials conglomerate based in South Jordan, late last year launched a business unit to deploy a new technology that uses a catalyst to break down the dregs left over after crude oil is refined so economically it can be used to produce additional fuel.

"Asphalt traditionally is a lower-value product, so it is appealing to refineries if they can use it to create higher-value products," Headwaters spokesman John Ward said.

"If we can get most of the refineries to adopt this technology, it would be the equivalent of discovering a new oil field capable of producing 500,000 barrels per day," Headwaters' Chief Executive Kirk Benson said last year.

Although such technology may help increase the supplies of the more highly refined petroleum products, it doesn't do a lot for asphalt users - given that those dregs normally would be used to produce asphalt and roofing shingles.

"In terms of cost and driveability, asphalt is still the preferred product for road surfaces," Utah Department of Transportation spokesman Nile Easton said, noting there are 4,968 miles of asphalt roads and highways in the state, compared with just 781 miles of road paved with concrete.

Concrete lasts much longer, but it also costs about 70 percent more than asphalt, Easton said. "With the recent price increases in asphalt, though, that gap has been narrowing a bit."

For small-business owners, especially those contractors that are unable to lock in prices, the rising cost of asphalt is creating its own set of problems.

"We've tried to stay away from bidding projects that are too big," said Case at Ron Case Roofing. "We've found that a lot of time we'll bid a project and by the time the contract is awarded, the cost of the asphalt has risen to the point where we couldn't make any money. You can really get in a bind if you're not careful."

So far, though, businesses that need a new parking lot or a homeowner who wants to extend a driveway aren't balking too much at the higher prices, said Rick Seamons, owner of R&R Paving in Salt Lake City.

Seamons said with the cost of putting in a parking lot jumping from around $1.10 per square foot (in late 2005) to around $2 today, it would seem logical that some businesses would hesitate to have the work done, but that generally hasn't happened yet.

"Maybe once Utah's economy starts to slow down, we'll see an impact," Seamons said.

steve@sltrib.com