PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Nick Ruggeri from Roxborough considers himself lucky to be retired right now.
“I can just stay home. I don’t have to drive around,” he said amid skyrocketing gas prices, though he feels for everyone who has to drive to and from work every day. “What are they gonna do about it?”
Many are asking themselves that question as gas prices have soared to record highs in the Philadelphia region, shooting up nearly 30 cents in the last week.
Nationally, the average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline has jumped 15 cents over the past two weeks to $4.38 per gallon. Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg Survey says the current price sits just a nickel below the highest average price in history — $4.43, set on March 11.
The average price at the pump is $1.36 higher than it was one year ago. Nationwide, the highest average price for regular-grade gas is in the San Francisco Bay Area, at $5.85 per gallon. The lowest average is in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at $3.80 per gallon. Diesel soared 43 cents, to $5.58 a gallon.
The average price is $4.64 a gallon in Philadelphia, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic — a 27-cent jump from a week ago. South Jersey saw a 29-cent spike to an average of $4.45 a gallon.
Analysts say crude prices are unlikely to fall as long as the supply remains tight. Tracy Noble, spokesperson for AAA Mid-Atlantic, said it now costs drivers in the United States an average of about $23 more to fill up than it did a year ago.
A combination of factors is contributing to the spike, according to GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan.
Now 10 weeks into Russia’s war with Ukraine, sanctions have maintained high oil prices. But also, De Haan said we’ve “lost a good bit of refining capacity, especially in the northeast,” and refineries haven’t increased production to meet the demand for gasoline, which is roughly back up to pre-pandemic levels.
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The approaching summer travel season and a mandatory switch to a more expensive summer blend of gasoline are fueling the surge as well. Overall, of course, crude oil, which does account for the majority of the price of a gallon of gas, is well above $100 a barrel.
A recent Yahoo Finance survey of about 1,400 people found that 66% of them are cutting back and making changes because of high gas prices. Of those people, about a third say they are canceling summer holiday trips that they were planning on taking by car.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.