The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline inched above the $4 mark on Tuesday, a plateau that had not been reached since August 2022.
According to AAA, the national average price on Tuesday was at $4.018.
Since late February, the average cost of regular gasoline has jumped 35%, The New York Times reported, citing AAA’s data.
“We have this obsession with gas prices because they dictate a lot of ‘Can we drive? Can we do things we enjoy?’ And now some of that is at risk,” Patrick De Haan, an analyst at GasBuddy, told the newspaper. “As we get to a month of increases and prices are much higher, the amount of pressure on Americans’ budgets and their spending is going to ramp up.”
Since the United States and Israel launched attacks against Iran on Feb. 28, the price of crude oil has spiked, according to The Associated Press.
The average price for a gallon of regular gas may continue to rise, CNN reported.
“I think it’s going to go much higher,” Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group and a former energy adviser to President George W. Bush, told the cable news network in a phone interview.
McNally added that the continued blockage of the Strait of Hormuz could contribute to rising prices.
“I wouldn’t bet my life on it, but there are good chances” gas prices break the 2022 record high of $5.02 per gallon, McNally told CNN.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 sent gas prices above $5 a gallon.
Kate Gordon, the chief executive of the nonprofit business group California Forward and a former senior adviser in the Department of Energy, told the Times that presidents are generally blamed for gas prices, even if they are out of his control.
“It is the biggest headache for whoever happens to be in power when something like this happens,” she said. “Usually, a hurricane hits the gulf and gas prices go up, and then whoever’s in power gets blamed for it.”
President Donald Trump, she said, “is going to get blamed anyway because he’s in power, but also he made the decision to go to war in Iran.”
Diesel prices are also on the rise, the AP reported.
The fuel used by many freight and delivery trucks are now averaging $5.46 per gallon, according to AAA. That is an increase from $3.76, the price before hostilities began in the Middle East.