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Page added on July 1, 2014
Gas Prices Swell To 6-Year High
Expect to pay more at the pump. Conflicts in Iraq have substantially caused gas to go up.
Marcus Washington reports right now gas prices are at a six-year high for early summer.
As a projected 41 million people hit the road during this Fourth of July weekend, experts say get ready to pay more at the pump.
“Both nationally and in Maryland, the average today is $3.68 a gallon. That’s up two cents from a week ago nationally. And here in Maryland, it’s up about three cents,” said Ragina Cooper-Averella, AAA Mid-Atlantic.
The rising price of gas is a direct reflection of conflict in Iraq. Analysts are now focused on the militant uprising in the country, where America gets a large percentage of its oil supply.
“So far, with most of the fighting occurring in the northern region of Iraq, we have not seen any disruptions in the southern region, which is where a majority of the oil is produced in that country,” Averella said.
This summer it’s expected that most drivers will pay some of the highest prices at the pump since 2008, when the national average of gas rose to $4.10 a gallon.
“They closed at $107.26 a barrel on Friday, which is really high. And unfortunately, if the conflict continues, we’ll continue to see crude oil prices rise as well as gas prices,” said Averella.
As nearly 830,000 Marylanders are expected to hit the road within the next week, finding the best spots to fill up at a low price can be as easy as visiting AAA’s Fuel Cost Calculator.
“They can also use that tool as they look to plan their driving vacations during the Fourth of July weekend and into the summer,” said Averella.
Typically Marylanders pay lower than the national average of gas, but that all changed when the gas tax kicked in July 2013.
14 Comments on "Gas Prices Swell To 6-Year High"
Plantagenet on Tue, 1st Jul 2014 9:52 am
Obama’s policy is to raise the price of gasoline by carbon taxes, regulations and other methods to reduce US carbon emissions and greenhouse warming
So far all Obama has managed to do is raise the price of gas.
forbin on Tue, 1st Jul 2014 11:29 am
” So far all Obama has managed to do is raise the price of gas…..”
sounds good to me , here in good ol’ Blighty I pay 131.9 p per ltr , mostly tax
cost of the oil is about 45p ish
oil prices rise 10% , that 4.5p on top of 131.9 p
the revenues pay for a lot of road maintenance and other things
but most of all , the rich can pay it , so its greatly democratic , big car? more tax from those who can afford it !
whats not to love?
theres a lot of good to come from raising petrol , sorry , gasoline tax
and very little downside if done slowly enough like you should have been doing in the USA for years
Forbin
Plantagenet on Tue, 1st Jul 2014 11:44 am
Forbin: if the money raised from high gas taxes is used intelligentl by the government, then high taxes can indeed be a good thing. But if the money is simply wasted, then high taxes are nothing more than needlessly high taxes—-and you know what your Brit hero Robin Hood thought of unfair high taxes.
Kenz300 on Tue, 1st Jul 2014 12:06 pm
Time for cities to become more people friendly and less auto friendly.
Walking, biking and mass transit need to be a priority.
Time for trolleys to make a come back.
Mike2 on Tue, 1st Jul 2014 12:25 pm
@forbin and plantagnet:
Both are true, but sadly the opinion about what are “useful things” and what are “useless” spreads as wide as political attitudes in general: for example many countries have a strong emphasis on public schools, others prefer more private models(here its more likely, that only pupils with rich parents can join good school -no mater about there own talents). -So, is investment in good public school “useless” or a useful thing?
But lets stay more close to energy markets:
A good use for higher taxes can be for example the support of other alternatives, like co-funding of NG-filling-stations or even substituting the buying of NG- and e-cars.
That would also reduce pressure on oil-markets what should lead to lower price-rises.
forbin on Tue, 1st Jul 2014 1:27 pm
actually on the economic side theres the effect of the laffer curve -something the UK Gov is seeing , along with better milage car/autos
Europe prices are close to each other, atleast in the Union
the point that Europe would not notice 10/20% increase in a barrel as much as the US would ( or did) .
the posit is that the US would have been better off with gasoline taxes relatively high.
The economic downside is that as oil goes away then so does the revenue stream….. HMG to me seems to place the bets on a pay-per-mile scheme.
is it too late for the US to try the same route ?
My personal opinion is that it is
interesting times
Forbin
bobinget on Tue, 1st Jul 2014 4:48 pm
So far higher gasoline, more to the point, diesel prices,
are aspirational and inflationary.
Aspirational because only (well founded) fear of supply interruption has refiners getting their yearly break so as to stay in business.
Inflationary diesel pricing is more scandalous then President Obama meeting in a White House windowless
room with Big Oil CEO’s. The fact is we are exporting
our way into basic food inflation.
I’ll post tomorrow’s EIA report released @1:00 PM Eastern
http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/supply/weekly/
Here’s a taste from last week:
Distillate fuel inventories increased by 1.2 million barrels last week but are near the lower limit of the average range for this time of year.
The earlier, abridged report released at 10:30 Eastern
Carefully, read the last paragraph that deals with consumption. Here again is last week’s example:
Total products supplied over the last four-week period averaged 18.5 million barrels per day, down by 0.2% from the same period last year. Over the last four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged about 9.0 million barrels per day, up by 1.7% from the same period last year. Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 3.9 million barrels per day over the last four weeks, down by 1.5% from the same period last year. Jet fuel product supplied is up 4.2% compared to the same four-week period last year.
Above we see diesel (distillates) consumption lower.
This is a refinery and export problem. Jet fuel, BTW is highly refined kerosene, another distillate.
Let’s see how this week’s (july 4th) consumption works out THURSDAY July 10th…
TIKIMAN on Tue, 1st Jul 2014 7:00 pm
Kenz3000 –
You really are the stupidest liberal I have ever encountered.
Bob Owens on Tue, 1st Jul 2014 7:09 pm
I would prefer to live in a world ruled by Science and logic. Unfortunately we live in a world ruled by divisions, hatred and war. In such a world a $1.00 rise in the price of gas will accomplish more for the environment than all the environmentalists in all of history have accomplished in total. Higher gas prices will spur thrift, solar, conservation, reduce fertilizer runoff, lower meat consumption, etc. So bring it on!
Beery on Tue, 1st Jul 2014 8:22 pm
If the rising price of gasoline could be shouldered purely by the “wasters” who use SUVs and hardly ever use any seat other than the driving seat, I’d be all for it.
Unfortunately, in this country, the wasters always seem to be the ones who pay least and last, because they’re always whining the most about taxes and liberalism, even though they are usually the ones who benefit most from the system, and even though they can’t tell a liberal from a socialist.
Makati1 on Tue, 1st Jul 2014 9:58 pm
Yawn. Wake me when something important happens, like fuel rationing.
Steve on Tue, 1st Jul 2014 10:15 pm
we need a conservative president to win next election so when the SHTF they won’t be able to blame anyone….oh wait then the liberals will be whining….I wish people would realize that there is no difference in the two teams!
Meld on Wed, 2nd Jul 2014 2:04 am
@Bob owens – we do live in a world governed by science and logic, it’s just most people choose to ignore them.
simonr on Wed, 2nd Jul 2014 7:38 am
Science and Logic.
Be very careful what you wish for.
There is no good or bad mercy forgiveness.
human life has no value in science or logic.
I imagine you mean I want to live in a world governed by logic using my personal value set, and thats the problem, why is any one value set more valid than any others.