Gas Prices Hit Record High As Holiday Travel Looms

Gas prices hit another record high on Tuesday as the national average reached $4.374 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).

The new average beats the all-time high of $4.35 per gallon, which was set on March 10, and comes as summer holiday travel plans are just weeks away.

According to fuel savings platform GasBuddy, gas prices could continue to climb through Memorial Day as road trip season begins and oil prices remain volatile.

“Liquid fuels have turned into liquid gold, with prices for gasoline and diesel spiraling out of control with little power to harness them as the imbalance between supply and demand globally continues to widen with each passing day. Russia’s oil increasingly remains out of the market, crimping supply while demand rebounds ahead of the summer driving season,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said in a statement.

“There’s little, if any, good news about fuel prices heading into summer, and the problem could become worse should we see an above average hurricane season, which could knock out refinery capacity at a time we badly need it as refined product inventories continue to plummet,” he added.

Analysts seem in agreement with the assessment from GasBuddy, warning that it could be some time before gas prices begin to decrease. The problem is being compounded by most of the EU looking to stop all imports of Russian oil by the end of 2022 due to the invasion of Ukraine, the Washington Post reported.

Edward Chow, an energy security scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Post, “No one has any idea how long this war will last or how long and deep its global energy impact will be. It may well be bigger and longer lasting. You simply cannot take the country that was the world’s largest combined exporter of oil and gas off the board without major impact.”

On Tuesday, President Biden is expected to announce his latest plan to thwart inflation as he faces damaging popularity, the Post said.

The White House has blamed Russian President Putin for the U.S.’ record-high gas prices, with Biden saying he will do everything he can to protect Americans from “pain at the pump,” as reported by Fox News.

To date, Biden has released 1 million barrels of oil per day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for the next six months and said the Environmental Protection Agency will allow the sale of E15 gasoline in the U.S. this summer.

It has been estimated by Yardeni Research that the average American household will pay nearly $2,000 more for gasoline in 2022, according to a March research note posted on LinkedIn, as reported by Fox News.