As inflation continues to wreak havoc on household budgets, US travelers planning summer road excursions are likely to face new record high petrol prices this week.
According to AAA data, the national average price of a gallon of petrol was $4.328 as of Monday afternoon. That price was up roughly 20 cents from a month ago and well over a dollar from a year ago on the same day.
Gas prices are only a quarter of what they were in March, when the national average hit an all-time high of $4.331 as the Russian invasion of Ukraine disrupted global energy imports.
Gas prices in New York have already surpassed previous highs. Regular petrol was $4.518 statewide, over 30 cents more than a month ago, while diesel was an outrageous $6.383.
“Increased oil costs and rising gas demand have driven up pump prices. “As long as oil prices remain above $105 per barrel, pump prices will likely rise,” AAA wrote in a blog post about the price spike.
Last week, oil prices were hovering around $110 per barrel as the European Union considered imposing an embargo on Russian energy imports in response to the Ukraine conflict. An embargo might further upset an energy market that was already dealing with supply difficulties and outages due to the COVID-19 epidemic.
On Monday, US crude oil prices fell about 7% to $102 per barrel, owing to a dramatic selloff on Wall Street and concerns about repeated COVID-19 lockdowns in China.
The most recent Consumer Price Index from the Labor Department, released in March, revealed how much gas costs are adding to inflation.
The CPI increased by 8.5 percent in March, the highest annual pace since 1981. Gas prices jumped 18.3 percent in the same month, accounting for more than half of the monthly inflation rise.
The Biden administration attempted to relieve pressure on US motorists by releasing tens of millions of barrels of oil from the strategic reserve, but the move had no long-term effect on prices.
