The national average for regular gas continued to rise on Thursday, reaching a new yearly high of $4.30 per gallon, according to AAA.
It is the eighth consecutive day that fuel costs have increased in the country, and the highest national average gas price in four years. Thursday’s surge in fuel prices comes a little over a week after costs dropped to $4.02 per gallon. It’s the latest extreme fluctuation in gas prices over the last month, in which fuel costs have varied from as low as $3.99 a month ago to today’s high.
Gas prices have also varied quite a bit so far this year. Since gas hit $2.79 per gallon on Jan. 12, a five-year low, prices have gradually increased. Initially, winter weather nationwide was blamed for rising fuel costs, as snowstorms in January and February disrupted oil refinery operations and production. However, fuel prices began to soar after the Iran war began.
During the first week of March, a gallon of regular gas increased to $2.98. By March 31, the national average price of regular gas had risen to $4.02 per gallon. Gas prices had previously reached a 2026 high of $4.16 per gallon on April 9. Due to the tumultuous pricing, gas prices have been a popular topic of discussion in the nation’s political discourse.
The setting of a new yearly high for gas prices on Thursday came less than two weeks after Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said he believed gas prices had “likely peaked” for the year. Wright made the comments during an interview on CNN with Jake Tapper, discussing the possibility of gas prices returning to around $3 per gallon.
“I don’t know,” Wright said at the time. “That could happen later this year. That might not happen until next year. But prices have likely peaked.”
Despite this week’s string of increases at the pumps, the establishment of a new yearly high (which is likely to keep rising in the coming days), and overall fluctuations, costs vary by region. The lowest gas prices are found in the Midwest and the Great Plains states. The highest gas prices in the nation are in the western U.S.
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California remains the state with the highest average gas price in the country, surpassing the $ 6 per gallon threshold. Hawaii has the second-highest gas prices in the nation at $5.643 per gallon. Next is Washington state at $5.57 per gallon. Oregon is next with a statewide average of $5.152 per gallon, followed by Nevada at $5.129 per gallon.
Conversely, Oklahoma continues to have the lowest gas prices in the country at $3.708 per gallon. This is followed by Kansas, which has a statewide average on Thursday of $3.756 per gallon. Georgia is next, at $3.757, followed by Mississippi at $3.777 per gallon. This is followed by Arkansas, which has a statewide average of $3.796 per gallon.