The United States may be on the brink of a surge in gasoline prices, with the price hitting as much as $ 4 per gallon in some US states, according to the AAA.
As crude oil prices have soared in recent weeks, Americans are already paying 14% more for a gallon of gas, according to AAA data, than in February.
And signs do not indicate that those prices will drop anytime soon.
“With higher demand and tighter gas supplies, we’re looking at more expensive pump prices with little relief in the coming weeks,” said Jeanette McGee, AAA spokesperson, in an article on AAA’s website.
Gasoline stocks for the week ending March 5 fell as demand for the fuel continued to rise to levels not seen since November.
The price of WTI crude oil has risen sharply in 2021 from $ 48 a barrel at the start of the year to more than $ 65 a barrel today, as the supply situation begins to tighten as crude oil demand rises and OPEC + production continues to limit.
However, the rise in gasoline prices in recent weeks in particular has been exacerbated by the outages of oil refineries in the United States following the devastating effects of freezing temperatures that hit Texas a few weeks ago, preventing widespread refinery outages from fully returning to normal. As more refinery units come back online, higher gasoline prices could be somewhat dampened.
And prices can go as high as $ 4 by the summer months in some areas – the typical peak of the driving season.
The areas with the highest price increases at the pump in the past week are Utah, Idaho, Missouri, Florida, Kentucky, Illinois, South Caroline, Alabama, Mississippi and Wyoming – all with double digits of 10 cents. per gallon to 25 cents per gallon. However, Mississippi is still the country’s cheapest gasoline market, according to the AAA.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads from Oilprice.com: