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The national average price of gas in the U.S. broke the all-time record Monday, at $4.104 per gallon.
The average price rose 49.1 cents per gallon from a week ago, according to GasBuddy. The previous record of $4.103 per gallon was set in 2008.
This is the 10th week in a row that the price of fuel has increased. With prices already rising, the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, one of the world’s largest energy-producing countries, has been responsible for the most recent spike.
The largest one-day increase in diesel prices happened Friday, at 22.2 cents per gallon. Its national average is $4.63 a gallon, short of the all-time high of $4.846.
In a news release, Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said that Americans have never seen gasoline prices this high nor the pace of increases.
“That combination makes this situation all the more remarkable and intense, with crippling sanctions on Russia curbing their flow of oil, leading to the massive spike in the price of all fuels: gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and more,” De Haan said. “It’s a dire situation and won’t improve any time soon. The high prices are likely to stick around for not days or weeks, like they did in 2008, but months. GasBuddy now expects the yearly national average to rise to its highest ever recorded.”
AAA reports an increase in the demand for gas mixed with a reduction in total supply is contributing to the increase in prices. However, the increasing oil prices “continue to play a leading role in pushing prices higher.”
Oil prices continued to surge after an agreement by the U.S. and other major governments to release 60 million barrels from their national reserves — half of them U.S. barrels — failed to address supply concerns over Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Russia currently supplies about 7% of the world’s oil and other oil products, exporting some 7 million barrels each day.
If that supply were significantly curtailed due to sanctions, analysts have predicted that crude oil prices could possibly climb to $180 or $200 per barrel. At the upper end of that range, gasoline prices would be expected to average $5.84 per gallon.
