Analyst Warns Americans Should Prepare For $5-a-Gallon Gas

Experts warn that Americans can expect increasing price hikes at the pump as oil costs continue to raise prices at gas stations across the nation due to Russia’s war with Ukraine.

According to data from AAA, the national average price of gas is currently $3.61 a gallon, up 26 cents from February and roughly a dollar from a year ago, with U.S. motorists who buy the priciest already paying nearly $4.50 a gallon.

Last month, Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, tweeted that the average gas price in some U.S. cities will reach $5 a gallon “in the next couple of weeks.” And as he predicted, San Francisco officially became the first U.S. city with an average gas price of more than $5 per gallon on Thursday.

Oil prices surged another $7 per barrel earlier this week after the U.S. and other major governments known as the International Energy Agency agreed to release 60 million barrels from their national reserves — half of which are U.S. barrels — failed to ease expert’s concerns about the supply in the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. 

The group wants “to send a strong message to oil markets” that there will be “no shortfall in supplies” as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

IEA executive director Fatih Birol said, “Global energy security is under threat, putting the world economy at risk during a fragile stage of the recovery.”

Brian Coulton, Fitch’s Chief Economist said “We think the Russia-Ukraine war will intensify global and U.S. inflation pressures by pushing up oil and gas prices.”