Buffalo, NY (WBEN) With the latest breach in the ceasefire between the US and Iran, there are worries gas prices will go up again. But experts say they shouldn't soar like they did earlier this year.
"It all depends on oil prices," says AAA's Elizabeth Carey. "There's been a lot of volatility in the Middle East for months now, so we've seen gas prices spike, and now they have been coming down in recent weeks and starting to fluctuate this past week. So it's really hard to tell, like, what will happen, and how these developments will affect pump prices in the long term."
Carey says it's been an interesting year when it comes to gas prices. " Typically you see gas prices increase around Memorial Day and before Independence Day, when a lot of people are taking those road trips. This year, leading up to Fourth of July, we are seeing gas prices come down because we had been paying so much in the spring because of all these tensions in the Middle East and the high oil prices, so we don't want to see oil prices go back up, because that would push those pump prices up again. So we want to see the oil prices stay down, so hopefully things are resolved in the Middle East, and we see those oil prices stay down, flatten out, and those pump prices continue to drop," says Carey.
Dow Jones Energy's Denton Cinqueguara says gas prices may inch up. "You'll start to see prices go up over the next couple days, but at the same time, I don't think we're off to the races, back to the $4.50 that we saw kind of earlier in the spring," says Cinquegara. "The system and the logistics are really important upon a well-oiled machine. I wouldn't panic, I don't think there's there's the possibility of run outs, you never say never, but this looks like just a move up in the market. It doesn't mean that your local gas station is going to run out just because supplies tend to be a little bit tighter right now."
He says US production continues to be strong. "One thing I would caution, though, is that what we produce in the United States is not quite an exact fit for US refineries, so refineries here were built and geared towards running higher sulfur, more sour crudes that are that tend to be cheaper and turn them into more useful, more expensive products. What we tend to be will tend to produce is a lighter, sweeter crude oil that's a lot easier to refine, and a lot more cooperatives, but you don't get as much gasoline out of it, you get more of the light end, like propanes and butanes, and stuff like that, so you don't necessarily get as much gasoline as you'd like out of it, " he notes.
The national average is around $3.80 a gallon, but it still more than $4 in WNY.
"Don't expect them to be off to the races like in spring"
"Don't expect them to be off to the races like in spring"
