As holiday travelers start hitting the road in record numbers, Memorial Day weekend gas prices are the highest they’ve been in four years.
According to AAA, the national average for a gallon of regular was $4.56 on Thursday, up 3 cents over last week and far higher than the $2.98 average right before the war in Iran began. Diesel averaged $5.66 per gallon, up around $2 since the war started.
Current prices are close to what drivers were paying 4 years ago, when the national average on Memorial Day was $4.61. With gasoline demand on the rise and the prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz, pump prices are likely to remain elevated as the summer travel season gets underway.
Gas Buddy reports that diesel prices at the top 10% of stations in the country are averaging $6.45 per gallon, while the bottom 10% average $4.78 per gallon.
The states with the lowest average diesel prices: Texas ($4.96), Louisiana ($5.02), and Mississippi ($5.04). The states with the highest average diesel prices: California ($7.40), Hawaii ($7.21), and Washington ($6.78).
• Today’s National Gasoline Average: $4.564
• One Week Ago: $4.534
• One Month Ago: $4.022
• One Year Ago: $3.183
According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gasoline demand increased last week from 8.75 million b/d to 8.76 million. Total domestic gasoline supply decreased from 215.7 million barrels to 214.2 million. Gasoline production decreased last week, averaging 9.3 million barrels per day.
Oil market dynamics
At the close of Wednesday’s formal trading session, WTI (West Texas Intermediate) fell $5.89 to settle at $98.26 a barrel. The EIA reports crude oil inventories decreased by 7.9 million barrels from the previous week. At 445 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about 2% below the five-year average for this time of year.
EV charging
The national average per kilowatt hour of electricity at a public EV charging station remained the same this past week at 41 cents.
State stats
Gasoline
The nation’s top 10 most expensive gasoline markets are California ($6.14), Washington ($5.78), Hawaii ($5.64), Oregon ($5.35), Alaska ($5.27), Nevada ($5.27), Illinois ($5.01), Arizona ($4.81), Colorado ($4.76), and Ohio ($4.76).
The nation’s top 10 least expensive gasoline markets are Mississippi ($4.01), Georgia ($4.03), Indiana ($4.04), Louisiana ($4.05), Texas ($4.09), Oklahoma ($4.09), Kansas ($4.11), Arkansas ($4.12), Alabama ($4.17), and South Carolina ($4.17).
Electric
The nation’s top 10 most expensive states for public charging per kilowatt hour are West Virginia (52 cents), Hawaii (51 cents), Alaska (50 cents), Louisiana (47 cents), New Hampshire (46 cents), California (46 cents), New Jersey (45 cents), Illinois (44 cents), Arkansas (44 cents), and South Carolina (44 cents).
The nation’s top 10 least expensive states for public charging per kilowatt hour are Kansas (29 cents), Missouri (32 cents), Utah (33 cents), Maryland (33 cents), Iowa (34 cents), Nebraska (34 cents), South Dakota (34 cents), Vermont (35 cents), Delaware (37 cents), and New Mexico (37 cents).
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RVT1262b
Don’t like high gas prices? Nobody does! Ask yourself which American city would you be willing to lose to an Iranian nuclear explosion just so you could enjoy low gas prices?
This argument is sooooo old
So is the people with their head in the sand claiming it could never happen. One thing for sure, oil will be a lot higher if Iran has nukes to control the strait.
Everyone should watch “Sum of All Fears”, see an example of what just a terrorist group could do with a nuke they bought on the black market, compared to a country with hundreds of pounds of enriched bomb making material.
So were gas prices under Biden!
I don’t care so much about politics, and maybe the vendors use politics to elevate rates. Newsome thinks so, and it’s probably true, that Chevron is price gouging, but Chevron has always been king of gouging. It’s the only place with Techron. It’s good stuff. Better than Circle K.
Conversely, every Memorial Day pump prices are up. It’s business, thus demand dictates. What percentage of RVers staycation just because of travel costs? Rounded down, it is 0%.
My advice: just go.
Skip the hype – look at the chart and compare the highest – still lower than 2022! Go back 5 years – instead of 4!
An Inconvenient Truth.
✌️😎
The price of a bale of hay during the Mexican War of 1846 was so high, many swore democracy was at its end. In fact many deemed the Manifest Destiny a waste of taxpayer money and certainly not worthy of war.
I can only imagine how those who could afford wagons for discretionary and recreational travel rebuffed the price of hay and how those who had to walk with no shoes viewed them.
Every generation swears they have it tough….LOL
And yet AAA predicts record travel this weekend! Guess it’s not the existential threat to humanity the legacy media is making it out to be.