Drivers across the country are lining up at discount fuel retailers like Costco and stockpiling gasoline as prices hit new record highs with no signs of relief in sight.
The national average gas price hit $4,252 on Wednesday, setting an all-time high for the second straight day after the US banned Russian oil over its invasion of Ukraine.
That represents an increase of 8 cents from Tuesday alone, and gas is now up 78 cents from last month and $1.45 from last year, according to the AAA Gas Price Index.
California continues to lead the nation with the highest average gas price of $5,573, and regular gas is now nearly $7 a gallon at some gas stations in Los Angeles.
Now experts are advising Americans to conserve fuel, police departments are warning drivers to beware of gas thieves, and across the country, discount retailers are seeing a huge scramble to fill tanks before prices rise even further.
Gas prices in Los Angeles jumped $8 on Wednesday, thanks to the war with Ukraine and President Biden’s decision to ban Russian oil.
A Mobil gas station in Los Angeles is seeing a huge rise in gas prices, with Los Angeles County seeing an average price increase of 86.4 cents per gallon over the past 15 days.
The average gas price in the country on Wednesday reached $4,252, setting an absolute record for the second day in a row.
Motorists in Los Angeles are lining up around the local Costco gas station in Burbank as global gas prices rise.
Huge queues formed at Burbank Costco as a driver searched for cheaper gas amid skyrocketing prices.
Now experts are advising Americans to conserve fuel, police departments are warning drivers to beware of gas thieves, and across the country, discount retailers are seeing huge scrambles to fill up.
A line is also forming at the Costco store in Van Nuys, Calif., as drivers look for bargain gas deals.
At some gas stations in Los Angeles, regular gasoline now costs nearly $7 a gallon. The average gas price in the country on Wednesday reached $4,252, setting an absolute record for the second day in a row.
The price of regular gasoline on Sunday topped $4 a gallon for the first time in nearly 14 years and is now up nearly 50 percent from a year ago.
Patrick De Haan of consumer group GasBuddy warned Americans against saving gas and predicted prices would remain above $4 through November.
De Haan tweeted: “Everyone is focused on one side of the equation: getting more oil to satisfy our waste, our inefficient driving behavior, etc. When will Americans learn to save? Make partial trips efficiently, use public transport or don’t, and prices will rise longer and longer.
“Oh my god people, I’m not asking people who clearly need fuel to stay at home, I’m asking commuters when they CAN take an alternative to do so.”
In the meantime, drivers across the country were looking for deals at stations with price cuts or discounts, such as Kroger, Sam’s Club and Costco.
Due to rising gas prices, long lines fill up at Summerlin Costco gas stations in Las Vegas, Nevada on Wednesday.
Motorists in Las Vegas stand in long lines at a Costco gas station on Wednesday in search of cheaper fuel.
A USPS postal worker fills up a truck with gasoline at Gas Station 76 in Los Angeles, California, Wednesday.
At a Kroger gas station in Atlanta, general contractor L.V. Boyd filled two fuel taps at the same time, pumping diesel fuel into two giant tanks in the back of his Ford F150 truck, fearing that already high gas prices would continue to rise.
“It annoys me, but I have to keep my truck running or I won’t eat,” Boyd, 35, said. Since diesel now costs $4.39 a gallon in his area, he planned to pay well over $400 for a truck and gas station. two tanks of 50 liters.
Miranda Krauss, 43, drove to Costco in Carlsbad, Calif., from Encinitas, a 20-minute drive, to take advantage of lower gas prices at a wholesale discounter.
“It got so bad that I came all this way for gas. Normally I wouldn’t go that far,” Krauss said.
At a Phillips 66 gas station in Woolforth, north Texas, Gilberto Meta, a 47-year-old worker filling up his GMC Yukon XL, let out a long sigh as he watched the dollars rise on the fuel gauge.
“Now I spend more on gas than on groceries,” he said. “Last week my wife and I talked about swapping this gas guzzler for something more efficient.”
The average gas price in the country on Wednesday reached $4,252, setting an absolute record for the second day in a row.
Prices are seen at a gas station in the Bronx on Wednesday. All local, state and national gas prices have surpassed the highest prices previously set during the July 2008 recession.
A worker photographs gas prices at a gas station in Jersey City, New Jersey on Wednesday.
Huge queues form at the local Costco gas station in Burbank as global gas prices continue to rise as the war in Ukraine escalates.
Costco, which often offers some of the best gas prices, came under fire Wednesday in California and across the country.
In Huntington Beach, California, Julian Mesa earns $15 an hour cleaning offices. On Monday, he paid $92 to fill up his pickup truck at $5.79 a gallon.
“It’s very expensive, expensive for people who earn the bare minimum,” Mesa said. His family has already cut back on eating out to cut their spending during the pandemic.
Gas station prices have been rising for more than a year, and analysts are expecting further increases after President Joe Biden announced that the US would ban Russian oil imports to more severely punish Russia for invading Ukraine.
Painful as prices have been this week, they are still not the highest Americans have paid when inflation is taken into account.
In today’s dollars, the previous 2008 record of $4.10 per gallon would be about $5.24.
Gasoline prices are displayed at a gas station in Jersey City on Wednesday as prices continue to rise.
Wednesday sees traffic on the Major Deegan Expressway in the Bronx as gas prices hit record highs.
GasBuddy’s Patrick De Haan urged Americans to use gas with caution after prices soared to a record high of $4.17 a gallon.
Experts are advising motorists to limit fuel consumption wherever possible and drive more efficiently to reduce strain on overburdened oil reserves.
GasBuddy, a fuel-saving app, predicts that gasoline prices will peak in May, averaging $4.25, and that prices will remain above $4 a gallon through November.
Analysts say almost all of last week’s rise – about 55 cents a gallon nationally – could be due to the expectation that Western countries will eventually ban Russian oil, further reducing their already limited inventories.
“The US doesn’t need Russian oil per se, but the world, and especially Europe, depends on it,” says Tom Kloza, an analyst with the Oil Price Information Service.
The US imported 245 million barrels of oil from Russia last year, or 8 percent of all US oil imports, according to government figures. This is less than the US imported from Canada or Mexico, but more than it imported from Saudi Arabia.
Typically, fuel prices rise in the spring and summer as Americans drive and fly more. Demand could also pick up as countries continue to ease COVID-19 restrictions.
These trends indicate that pump prices are rising and demand continues to outstrip supply.
“This summer is not going to be good for motorists,” says De Haan.
GasBuddy predicts that gasoline prices will peak in May, averaging $4.25, and that prices will remain above $4 a gallon through November.
“Americans have never seen such high gas prices, and we have not seen such a fast and furious pace of growth,” said De Haan, head of oil analysis at GasBuddy.
“This combination makes the situation all the more remarkable and tense, as crippling sanctions on Russia restrict the flow of their oil, causing prices to skyrocket for all fuels: gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and more,” he added. .