The national average price for regular gas rose to $4.176 per gallon on Tuesday. It’s the fifth straight day of increases at the pumps after fuel costs had dropped to as low as $4.02 per gallon just a week ago.
Tuesday’s gas prices also set a new high for the year, breaking the previous record of $4.16 on April 9. Tuesday’s cost was also a notable increase from Monday, when a gallon of regular gas was $4.11. Prices are also higher today than a month ago when regular gas cost $3.976 per gallon. Before the most recent string of increases, the national average price of a gallon of regular gas fell for 9 straight days.
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The most recent price increase and new monthly high came just nine days after Energy Secretary Chris Wright said gas prices had likely peaked for the year during an interview on CNN with Jake Tapper. Wright made the comments while mentioning that he believed it might not be until next year before gas prices returned to near $3 per gallon levels.
“I don’t know,” Wright said during the interview with Tapper. “That could happen later this year. That might not happen until next year. But prices have likely peaked.”
President Donald Trump disagreed with Wright’s assessment after the interview, stating he believed gas prices would drop to $3 per gallon much sooner. The president claimed gas prices would return to a more affordable level at the conclusion of the war with Iran.
“No, I think he’s wrong on that,” Trump said about Wright’s prediction. “Totally wrong.” Gas prices will fall “as soon as this ends,” he added.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also recently predicted that gas prices could return to the $3-per-gallon level sometime during the summer.
“I’m optimistic that sometime between June 20 and September 20, we can have $3 gas again,” Bessent said.
“We’ll see,” he added. “But I think over the summer we could see gas prices starting with a three sooner rather than later.”
Meanwhile, Chevron CEO Mike Wirth made predictions in the opposite direction from the Trump administration. During an interview on Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation, he told host Margaret Brennan that gas prices had not peaked for the year.
“I think it’s very hard to say that, because you have to make a bunch of assumptions about that, and it depends on what you assume,” Wirth said when asked by Brennan if he thought gas prices had peaked.
“Yeah, it’s one of the things I’ve learned in over 40 years in this industry, is predicting price is extremely difficult,” he said. “Even in normal times, markets can surprise you. This is not a normal time. The dynamics that are affecting supply are quite unusual.”
Wirth added that because of the war, and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz, it would be difficult to predict when a full relief at the pumps would occur. He predicted higher gas prices would be “with us for a period of time.”
“It’s, you know, there’s a, kind of an old axiom that, you know, I can tell you the price, I just can’t tell you when,” Wirth explained about the nature of gas prices. “It’s very difficult to predict these things. Because markets are dynamic. They can respond to things that we don’t anticipate.”
“And the one reality is that these, these shock absorbers, are not as effective as you get down to lower levels of inventory,” he added. “And so I think that’s going to be with us for a period of time.”
CHEVRON CEO WARNS GAS PRICES HAVEN’T PEAKED AS HORMUZ BLOCKADE RAGES ON
Despite recent increases and overall fluctuations in the national average gas price, costs vary by region. The highest gas prices in the nation are in the western U.S. The most affordable gas prices are found in the Midwest and the Great Plains states.
California remains the state with the highest statewide average gas price in the country, at $5.965 per gallon. This is followed by Hawaii at $5.64 per gallon. Next is Washington state at $5.51 per gallon. Oregon and Nevada are the remaining two states in the top five states with the highest gas prices in the country. Oregon has a statewide average of $5.10 per gallon, and Nevada is at $5.069 per gallon.
Oklahoma continues to have the lowest gas prices in the country at $3.57 per gallon. This is followed by Kansas at $3.634 per gallon. Georgia makes its debut on the list of five most affordable states for gas prices with a statewide average of $3.65 per gallon. Arkansas is next at $3.684 per gallon, followed by Mississippi at $3.717 per gallon.
