Gas prices continue to soar, up nearly $2 dollars per gallon from last year

06/16/2022 / By Kevin Hughes

The national average of gas prices hit a record high of $5.01 per gallon Sunday, June 12. That represents an increase of 16 cents from last week’s average as summer rolled in and Americans started driving more for vacations, trips and outings.

According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), the national average for a gallon of gas was $3.07 this time last year. The average price was $4.89 a week ago and it was $4.42 a month ago.

The price hikes accelerated following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

In California, the average for a gallon of gas soared to $6.43 on Sunday, the highest in the nation. Even states with usually lower averages like Texas and Mississippi are seeing gas prices move past $4.50 per gallon.

Some states saw their averages jump by more than 20 cents last week. In fact, the top 10 states with the highest weekly increases tracked by AAA saw prices jump at least 21 cents over the seven-day period ending on Monday, June 13.

West Virginia had the largest jump in prices over the previous week. The average price for gasoline in the state leaped 28 cents per gallon between June 6 and June 13, based on AAA’s latest data.

Not far behind were Montana and Colorado with prices increasing 27 cents and 25 cents, respectively. Prices in Kansas and Virginia soared 23 cents, according to AAA data.

“The high price of oil coupled with high domestic demand is keeping these gas prices elevated for consumers,” AAA spokesperson Andrew Gross said in an interview with Fox Business.

As reported by AAA, the national average was 56 cents more than a month ago and $1.93 higher than a year ago. The group has never seen gas prices hit this level since it started gathering pricing data in 2000.

The newest record arrives after inflation hit a 40-year high in May, pushed by hikes in government spending during the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, worldwide turmoil, interrupted supply chains and raised consumer demand post-COVID restrictions.

The Joe Biden administration has received the brunt of the blame for many of the increasing prices, with Biden’s approval rating setting historic lows over the past weeks in various polls.

Nevertheless, Biden has claimed the economy can get better due to the robust job growth and low unemployment rates, a statement he repeated during a recent interview on ABC‘s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

Meanwhile, the price of diesel fuel also increased overnight to $5.77 a gallon. Diesel fuels the trucks that transport food and other consumer goods across the nation, leading to a 40-year-high inflation.

The Department of Labor reported Friday, June 10, that consumer prices peaked 8.6 percent in May over the same time last year, the biggest increase since 1981.

GasBuddy, which also monitors gas prices nationally, said demand for gasoline is rising as the summer travel season begins.

“According to GasBuddy data, weekly (Sun-Sat) U.S. gasoline demand rose 2.7 percent from the prior week and was 1.1 percent above the average of the last four weeks. It was the highest level of 2022,” Patrick De Haan at GasBuddy tweeted on Sunday.

Analysts believe costs will continue to hike through the summer as demand surpasses supply.

Americans blame Biden for record-high gas prices

According to an April Rasmussen Reports poll, 61 percent of voters said Biden has not done enough to address gas prices. (Related: Americans blame Democrats, Biden’s leadership as gas prices hit record highs.)

“Gas prices are at a record high. It’s truly amazing to watch the corporate press try to bend over backward in their attempt to shift the blame from Biden. He literally campaigned on shutting down oil and gas drilling,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted Saturday, June 11.

During a 2020 Democratic presidential debate, Biden said: “No more subsidies for the fossil fuel industry. No more drilling on federal land. No more drilling, including offshore. No more ability for the oil industry to continue to drill. Period.”

On his first day in office, Biden stopped new leases for the oil industry on federal lands as well as the Gulf of Mexico, terminated the Keystone Pipeline project and put other new restrictions on the industry.

Follow FuelSupply.news for more news about soaring gas prices.

Watch the video below to know what rising gas prices really mean for ordinary people.

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