RECOPE is warning the country to brace for even higher gas prices at the pump, as prices reach $70 per barrel because of Katrina and other factors. In June the institution projected that Costa Rica would spend $ 954 million in 2005, but the price of a barrel of oil was $60. In 2004 the country spent $ 699 million dollars on oil, but through August the country has spent $ 655 million on 11,320,459 barrels.