The average price of gas in the United States soared past $5 per gallon Thursday, passing the mark for the first time in America’s history.
Hitting the milestone has long been expected, according to GasBuddy, and it comes in the wake of continuously increasing gas prices, renewed seasonal demands, and supply constraints.
“Gas prices have surged in recent weeks as U.S. gasoline inventories have fallen over 25 million barrels, or over one billion gallons, since the start of March amidst a global decline in refining capacity due to the Covid-19 pandemic and accelerated demand going into the summer,” GasBuddy said in a press release.
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“The price of oil has also jumped due to escalations stemming from the Russian war on Ukraine, as countries choke off Russian oil supply via sanctions, pushing supply down at a time of rising demand,” it said.
These factors, coupled with the fact that the refining capacity of the U.S. has dipped by roughly 1 million barrels per day in the last three years, have resulted in an environment ideal for surging gas prices.
“It’s been one kink after another this year, and worst of all, demand doesn’t seem to be responding to the surge in gas prices, meaning there is a high probability that prices could go even higher in the weeks ahead,” Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said.
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“It’s a perfect storm of factors all aligning to create a rare environment of rapid price hikes. The situation could become even worse should there be any unexpected issues at the nation’s refineries or a major hurricane that impacts oil production or refineries this summer,” he said.
