Pain at the pump as U.S. gasoline prices soar to highest since 2008
U.S. gasoline prices at the pump jumped 11% over the past week to the highest since late July 2008 as global sanctions cripple Russia's ability to export crude oil after its invasion of Ukraine, automobile club AAA said on Sunday.
AAA said average U.S. regular-grade gasoline prices hit $4.009 per gallon on Sunday (March 6), up 11% from $3.604 a week ago and up 45% from $2.760 a year ago.
The automobile club, which has data going back to 2000, said U.S. retail gasoline prices hit a record $4.114 a gallon on July 17, 2008, which was around the same time U.S. crude CLc1 futures soared to a record $147.27 a barrel.
The most expensive gas in the country is in California at $5.288 a gallon, followed by Hawaii ($4.695), Nevada ($4.526) and Oregon ($4.466), according to AAA.
At one gas station in Arlington, Virginia, near Washington, DC, regular gas was priced at $4.19 a gallon.
“It's inflation and what's going on in Ukraine with the Russians. And as far as I'm concerned, we should ...stop importing oil from Russia and put the hurt on them. It’s going to make inflation go up even higher, but we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do,” said Tim Joyce from Arlington, who was filling up his eight-cylinder truck.
"Every day it's going up. And jobs are on the descent, going down, every day it’s going down. So it’s affecting my budget. It’s affecting everybody," said Mauricio Barahona.
Gasoline price provider GasBuddy said the average price of U.S. gasoline spiked nearly 41 cents per gallon, topping $4 for the first time in almost 14 years, and stands just 10 cents below the all-time record of $4.103 per gallon.
GasBuddy said that the weekly increase was the second-largest ever, following a jump of 49 cents per gallon during the week of Sept. 3, 2005, after Hurricane Katrina tore through the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Reuters