SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Gas prices are clearly on the rise, but one gas station owner in San Francisco is taking it upon himself to raise prices even higher.

Bob Oyster is charging four dollars and 33 cents per gallon for economy grade gasoline, about 59 cents higher than California's statewide average.

He says he's doing it to protest the way he's been treated by Shell. Oyster says the oil companies are "making (b) billions but putting the little guys out of business."

Shell says it wanted to raise Oyster's base rent by over two-thousand dollars over the next three years. It says the increase is a result of a third-party study of commercial real estate in the area. The company says it's "disappointed" by what Oyster is doing, and that his actions are `inconvenient for consumers."

Oyster says he's not worried that his prices will put him out of business. He says he's vacating at the end of the month anyway because he can't afford to operate on razor-thin margins.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

AP-NY-05-16-07 1654EDT