The American Automobile Association (AAA) has listed the top-ten most expensive states to buy gas, nine of which are run by Democrats.
According to AAA, the national average for a gallon of gas is $4.06 and rising.
The average is now 45 cents more than a week ago, 62 cents more than a month ago, and $1.30 more than a year ago.
And it promises to get worse as the West debates banning Russian oil.
AAA has released a list of the ten states with the most expensive gas prices and most are blue states.
The only red state in the top ten is Alaska, which surprisingly comes in at number 6.
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said:
“There are few words to describe the unprecedented rise in gasoline prices over the last week, with massive spikes coast to coast in both gasoline and diesel prices, as oil prices jump to their highest since 2008.
“Forget the $4 per gallon mark, the nation will soon set new all-time record highs and we could push closer to a national average of $4.50/gal.
“California could be heading for $5.50 per gallon with more stations charging $6 and beyond.
“We’ve never been in this situation before, with this level of uncertainty.
“As we lose a major global producer under the weight of deserving bipartisan sanctions for invading a sovereign country, the cost is high.
“Americans will be feeling the pain of the rise in prices for quite some time, with little good news foreseen.”
GasBuddy released a statement that said:
Americans have seen one of the most profound weeks at the pump with energy prices skyrocketing, marking the 10th straight weekly rise. The nation’s average gas price has risen a staggering 46.5 cents from a week ago and stands at $4.06 per gallon today according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 11 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country.
The average price of gasoline will likely set a new all-time record in the next 12 hours, breaching the previous $4.103 per gallon record. With the recent rise, the national average is up 61.1 cents from a month ago and $1.29 per gallon higher than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has risen 61.9 cents in the last week and stands at $4.61 per gallon, the highest since August, 2008 and is just 20 cents from the all-time record high of $4.84/gal.
OIL PRICES
Crude oil prices were making additional gains in early Monday trade, with West Texas Intermediate crude oil up $2.31 per barrel, or 2%, to $117.99, up from last Monday’s $95.80 per barrel level, but also well off Sunday evening’s high of $125 per barrel.
Brent crude was also up $3.79 per barrel to $121.90 as crippling sanctions hit Russia’s ability to export crude oil, leading Russia to plead with world markets by offering the largest discounts ever on their crudes.
Volatility will likely remain as rumors swirl about the potential for the U.S. to officially target Russia’s energy sector for severe sanctions, which could push oil prices up further.
According to Baker Hughes, last week’s U.S. rig count was unchanged at 650, and was 247 rigs higher than a year ago. The Canadian rig count fell by 7 to 217, or 76 more than a year ago.
OIL AND REFINED PRODUCT INVENTORIES
According to the Energy Information Administration, crude oil inventories fell 2.6 million barrels last week, alongside a 2.4 million barrel decline in the nation’s strategic reserve, leaving oil inventories 12% below the five year average for this time of year.
Domestic crude oil production saw a slight boost from the lower 48 of 100,000bpd, while Alaska production sagged by 18,000bpd.
Gasoline inventories fell a manageable 500,000 barrels and stand near the five year average, while distillate inventories fell 600,000bpd and are 16% below the five year average for this time of year.
Refinery utilization rose 0.3 percentage points to reach 87.7% as refinery maintenance season is ongoing.
FUEL DEMAND
According to GasBuddy demand data driven by its Pay with GasBuddy card, U.S. retail gasoline demand saw a rise last week (Sun-Sat). Nationally, weekly gasoline demand rose 0.3% from the prior week, while demand rose 0.3% in PADD 1, fell 0.2% in PADD 2, rose 2.8% in PADD 3, fell 2.1% in PADD 4, and fell 2.8% in PADD 5.
GAS PRICE TRENDS
The most common U.S. gas price encountered by motorists stood at $3.99 per gallon, up 50 cents from last week, followed by $3.79, $3.89, $3.69, and $4.19 rounding out the five most common prices.
The median U.S. price is $3.99 per gallon, up 50 cents from last week and about 10 cents lower than the national average.
The states with the lowest average prices: Arkansas ($3.64), Missouri ($3.67), and South Dakota ($3.68).
The states with the highest prices: California ($5.32), Hawaii ($4.65), and Nevada ($4.60).
According to AAA here are the most expensive states for gas as of Monday:
- California: $5.34
- Hawaii: $4.69
- Nevada: $4.59
- Oregon: $4.51
- Washington: $4.44
- Alaska: $4.39
- Illinois: $4.30
- Connecticut: $4.28
- New York: $4.26
- Pennsylvania: $4.23
