There's apparently nowhere for Americans to hide from rising gas prices. For the first time, prices in every state average at least $4 per gallon, AAA data show. The immediate cause is the increasing cost of crude oil, which is almost $110 a barrel globally, per NBC News. AAA doesn't see much reason to think gas prices will stabilize or drop as summer vacations approach. "Even the annual seasonal demand dip for gasoline during the lull between spring break and Memorial Day, which would normally help lower prices, is having no effect this year," a spokesperson said.
California's pain remains the most acute: GasBuddy said Wednesday that the average price of a gallon of regular there topped $6 for the first time. Patrick De Haan, Gasbuddy's head of petroleum analysis, said prices are out of control, "with little power to harness them as the imbalance between supply and demand globally continues to widen." He pointed out that while demand is increasing, the exclusion of Russian oil is worsening that imbalance.
An analysis by JPMorgan shows the national average could reach $6.20 per gallon by August, per Fox Business. Another stat that could discourage vacationers: Government data show that in every region of the US, gas costs more than $5 per gallon at stations near a highway. The average along highways has increased $2.36 in the past year, per the Washington Post, to $5.61. As high as prices are, an economist at the University of California-Davis notes that they were even higher in the summer of 2008, once you adjust for inflation. (More gas prices stories.)
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