American gasoline prices could climb to the highest level ever recorded this late in the calendar year if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, the fuel-tracking service GasBuddy warned Monday.
The most common price motorists encountered last week was $3.99 a gallon, up 30 cents from the week before, according to GasBuddy figures reported by WANE. The next most common prices were $3.79, $3.89, $3.69 and $3.59.
Diesel declined last week, though at roughly half the rate of gasoline, with continued pressure on refined product markets from Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries. Oil prices edged higher in Sunday night trading after Iran pushed back on reopening the waterway, GasBuddy said, signaling that the recent relief may be temporary.
The strait normally carries around a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas. Its effective closure since late February has driven crude sharply higher and left gasoline more than a dollar above where it stood when the war began, according to AAA figures.
Gas first crossed $4 a gallon on March 31 and reached a four-year high of $4.56 in early May before falling on expectations that negotiations would reopen the waterway. Prices dropped back below $4 after the June 14 memorandum of understanding, then rose again in July as fighting resumed, CNN reported at the time.
Economists have noted the increase lands on households in a weaker position than during the 2022 fuel shock, when job and wage growth were stronger and many families still held pandemic-era savings.
The record national average remains $5.01, set in June 2022 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.