The average price of regular-grade gasoline spiked 33 cents over the past two weeks to $4.71 per gallon, according to the Lundberg Survey, which comes as some analysts predict that prices will climb to more than $6 per gallon by the end of the summer.
Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg Survey said on May 22 that the price jump comes amid higher crude oil costs and tight gasoline supplies.
Nationwide, the highest average price for regular-grade gas was in the San Francisco Bay Area, at $6.20 per gallon, according to the survey, while the lowest average was in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at $3.92 per gallon.
Separate data from the American Automobile Association (AAA) show that in the week between May 16 and May 23, the national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline increased by 11 cents to $4.60.
AAA said in a statement that the current supply and demand dynamic, “combined with volatile crude prices, will likely continue to keep upward pressure on pump prices.”
Andrew Gross, the national spokesman for AAA, told Fox News in a recent interview that he expects gasoline prices to climb further with Memorial Day weekend and the summer peak driving season fast approaching.
Data from GasBuddy indicate that the national average price of gasoline in the United States on May 22 was at $4.57 per gallon, up by 10.5 cents from a week ago, according to Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.
De Haan predicted in a recent Twitter post that U.S. gasoline prices this coming Memorial Day weekend could be not just higher than any other Memorial Day, but a full $1 per gallon higher than the previous Memorial Day record of $3.99 per gallon set in 2014.
Another dire gas price prediction came in a note from JPMorgan analysts, who said on May 17 that prices could surge another 37 percent by August to an estimated national average of $6.20 per gallon.
“Typically, refiners produce more gasoline ahead of the summer road-trip season, building up inventories,” said Natasha Kaneva, head of global commodities research at JPMorgan.
By Tom Ozimek
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