U.S. gasoline prices have surged by 20 cents in just a week, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine sent international crude oil prices soaring above $110 per barrel.
The national average now stands at $3.781/gal, "up an amazing 20c/gal from a week ago," Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for fuel-savings app GasBuddy, said on Friday.
The daily rise was among the ten biggest daily increases ever and the highest recorded outside August and September at 6.5c/gal, De Haan added.
On Thursday, for the first time ever, a U.S. city breached the $5/gal per gallon average-this is San Francisco, De Haan tweeted yesterday.
Earlier this week, De Haan predicted that the national average could potentially jump to $3.90/gal by St. Patrick's Day, and possibly to a record-breaking $4.10 by April 1.
Per AAA data, the national average of regular gasoline was $3.837/gal early on Friday. Last month, the national average was $3.423 per gallon, and at this time last year it was $2.745/gal.
Since last Thursday, the start of Putin's war in Ukraine, the following ten states have seen the largest increases in their averages, according to AAA: Michigan (+39 cents), Indiana (+36 cents), Illinois (+31 cents), Ohio (+30 cents), Tennessee (+26 cents), Kentucky (+24 cents), South Carolina (+20 cents), Georgia (+21 cents), Delaware (+19 cents), and Alabama (+18 cents).
"An increase in gas demand, alongside a reduction in total supply, is contributing to price increases, but increasing oil prices continue to play a leading role in pushing prices higher. Pump prices will likely continue to rise as crude prices continue to climb," AAA said on Thursday.
"The market will likely continue to increase the price of oil as more sanctions are imposed on Russia. A potential ban of crude imports from Russia to the U.S. or other countries will likely cause prices to continue to rise to reflect more risk of disruption to tight global oil supplies," AAA noted.
Early on Friday, oil prices were up by 2%, with WTI Crude at $110.50 and Brent Crude at $113.44.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More