NEW YORK (Reuters) - Gasoline prices in the United States should reach and pass $3 per gallon within the next 12 months, which will be a blow to the economy and consumers, legendary oilman T. Boone Pickens said on Tuesday.

"I think you are going to see $3 gasoline in the United States within the next year, and I think that'll be a shock," Pickens said at the Reuters Energy Summit.

Pickens, speaking at the Reuters' offices in New York, said that while prices at the pump will rise higher, at current levels they are not so bad compared with European countries, where gasoline costs $5 a gallon or more.

"Two dollars a gallon for gasoline in the United States I thought was a nonevent," Pickens said.

But the higher prices will begin to change the complexion of auto sales, Pickens suggested, as drivers' wallets begin to suffer and they look for cheaper transportation.

"I think the day of the SUV is just about over with, as far as being the number one seller," he said.

[story]