(WWJ) – We’ve already seen gas prices in Michigan climb over the last couple of months, but how much higher can they go?
Gas Buddy Petroleum Analyst Patrick DeHaan tells WWJ Metro Detroiters can expect gas prices to approach or even exceed $4 a gallon as demand for gas increases in the spring and summer months.
Every year over the last decade, according to DeHaan, gas prices have increased by about 25-75 cents a gallon between the beginning of March and Memorial Day, at the end of May.
Currently, Gas Buddy reports the average price of gas in Metro Detroit is $3.39, so that expected seasonal bump could bring us near or above $4.
“It’s not looking great for motorists,” DeHaan told WWJ. “I think the expectation is nearly 100% that we will be paying more for gasoline on Memorial Day than we are today, possibly in the upper $3s or low $4 a gallon range.”
That seasonal increase is almost a guarantee, but uncertainty between Russia and Ukraine has some wondering whether prices will climb even higher -- even approaching the $5 mark.
DeHaan doesn’t think it’ll happen, but he does not rule out the possibility that prices could hit $5 a gallon if Russia does invade Ukraine. Analysts have been speculating Russian President Vladimir Putin may invade the neighboring Ukraine in coming days or weeks.
Although he’d “like to say $5 seems like an impossibility,” DeHaan admits it’s not entirely out of the question.
“I would think that if Russia does make an incursion into Ukraine, that certainly almost rubber stamps $4 gasoline this spring,” he said. “But I certainly don’t see $5, though again, it’s very uncertain what would end up happening, and that’s why it’s difficult to pin it down.”
Either way, DeHaan says, it appears we’re “setting ourselves up for a relatively pricey summer.”
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