Millions of American motorists are feeling pain at the pump again. Have you noticed how rapidly prices are rising lately? If you want to avoid having a major headache over the next few months, you should definitely start stocking up on fuel while prices are still relatively low because that won’t last much longer, according to market analysts and the Energy Information Administration. A seasonal spike is about to hit the U.S. gas market, and prices are already climbing at the fastest pace since 2023, new data reveals.
Earlier this week, the AAA reported that the prospects of a $3 national average seem very distant now that oil prices and, consequently, gasoline prices have started to steadily rise.
As of today, the national average gas price stands at $3.32 per gallon, up almost $0.17 cents from a week ago. After a bit of a relief in January, experts said that falling gasoline prices have bottomed out. New numbers released on the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s latest fuel update showed that millions of drivers across the country are now paying some of the highest prices for gas in nearly three months.
The update outlined that the price of U.S. regular gasoline was $3.065 per gallon on January 29, marking an almost $0.30 increase over the past month alone. From now on, Americans will start noticing a major acceleration on pump costs, Gas Buddy head of petroleum analysis Patrick De Haan said during an interview on Tuesday.
For four straight weeks, the nation’s average has gone up, per GasBuddy data compiled from more than 12 million individual price reports covering 150,000 gas stations across the country.
In essence, less investment translates into less supply, which translates into higher prices. Lower productions levels can have the same effect. It’s just basic economics that when the government squeezes the supply in an industry, that will lead to higher prices both now and in the future. The White House was warned by many critics at the time that this would happen, but it proceeded anyway.
As a result, in 2024, we will all have to deal with the consequences of our government’s actions. This means, paying more for fuels and all transported goods.
So if I were you, I wouldn’t miss this window of opportunity to stock up on gasoline while prices haven’t spiked yet because this is as low as they will get for a while.