Bad news for drivers: gas prices are back on the rise after eight weeks of price decreases.
According to one analyst, we won't see any relief anytime soon.
"Gasoline prices in New Orleans are up about seven cents from last week," Gas Buddy analyst Patrick DeHaan told WWL's Tommy Tucker. "The average is about $3.50 a gallon."
DeHaan notes that gas prices are still about 10 cents lower than what they were a month ago, but he says the ongoing U. S. war with Iran will keep driving those prices upward.
"After eight weeks of gas prices declining, the escalations are pushing prices back up simply for the fact of the matter that the Strait is closed (and) that new attacks may emerge, and that could tighten the global market for oil," DeHaan said. "Unless something positive happens quickly, we're likely to see gas prices go up for the next several days (and) maybe the next few weeks."
DeHaan added that another global conflict is impacting fuel prices: the war between Russia and Ukraine is causing higher Diesel prices.
"Ukraine has been attacking some of the largest Russian refineries," DeHaan said. "Russia has had to ban exports of Diesel simply to mitigate the fact that there is not enough refining capacity in Russia now."
DeHaan says if you need to fill up your tank, it's best to go ahead and get it out of the way now.
"If you're one to wait, you'll probably see gas prices going up every couple of days here--at least for the foreseeable future until the situation between the U. S. and Iran changes again," DeHaan said. "We're likely to continue moving up."
