Gas prices could start climbing again. A spokesman for AAA says if they do, it’s because of uncertainty over the U.S. war with Iran.
President Trump on Wednesday announced a ceasefire with Iran was over. Crude oil prices immediately jumped, and then stabilized.
AAA’s Morgan Dean says retail prices are directly linked to the price of crude.
“The geo-political concerns usually have some pretty quick effect on gas prices at the pumps,” Dean says. “Where will they go? That’s really going to depend on ultimately what ends up happening in the Middle East in the future.”
Crude oil prices hit $120 per barrel when the U.S. and Israel first launched strikes on Iran at the end of February.
“In the past few weeks, we’ve seen it retreat back down to about $70 per barrel. Just to give you some perspective, back before the Iran conflict began, we were sitting at about $65 a barrel,” Dean says. “We’re not far off from where we were before everything began but also with a lot of uncertainty right now, there’s chances that crude oil prices could continue climbing.”
Cincinnati’s average price Thursday was $3.58 for a gallon of regular. Dean says that’s two cents lower than the day before and $0.30 less than a month ago.
As of Thursday afternoon, the average price in Ohio was $3.70 for a gallon of regular, according to Dean. He says that’s $0.41 less than a month ago, but $0.64 more than last year on this date. Kentucky’s average is $3.45 per gallon, while Indiana had the lowest average in the nation at $3.21.
Indiana and Kentucky have both suspended gasoline taxes in response to higher prices.
Other statistics:
- According to the Energy Information Administration, demand for gas decreased last week from 9.13 million barrels per day to 8.84 million.
- Crude oil inventory increased from 3 million to 411.4 million barrels, but is still about 6% below the five-year average for July.
- Total domestic gasoline supply dropped from 214 million barrels to 212.1 million.
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