Grand Canyon Times

Trends in gas prices paint a dismal picture for motorists hoping to find relief at the gas pump, as prices are expected to surge well into the summer.

Today's national average price per gallon has been reported at $4.59, up another 16 cents from last week, today's Gas Misery Index reported. On average, Americans will spend $814 more annually on gasoline now than they did at this time last year. Motorists in Arizona will spend $876 more on gas than they did a year ago, with the average price for a gallon of gas in the state at $4.86 — a jump of 14 cents from last week.

The index gets its figure using the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline from AAA, average miles traveled from Metromile and the average fuel efficiency of U.S. cars in miles per gallon from the U.S. Department of Energy.

"US #gasprices this Memorial Day could be not just higher than any other Memorial Day, but $1/gal higher than the previous record of $3.66/gal from 2014," Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, said in a tweet.

Energy Information Administration (EIA) data showed that gas production has decreased to 220.2 million barrels of crude oil, a drop of 4.8 million barrels of crude oil, AAA reported. Despite the decrease in production, gas demand has jumped from 8.7 million barrels per day to 9 million barrels per day. The combination will likely cause gas prices to continue surging.

With Memorial Day weekend coming up, GasBuddy asked Americans about inflation's effects on their travel plans. Seventy percent said soaring gas prices have had an effect on their plans for the summer, which is 24% more than a year ago, GasBuddy reported in a release.

"Against a backdrop of gas prices that have continued to set new records ahead of Memorial Day, Americans have been resilient in their desire to hit the road, but we’re certainly seeing increased hesitancy due to rising prices at the pump," De Haan said in the release. "Soaring inflation has led to uncertainty over rising costs."

The EIA reported that when President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, the usual price for a gallon of gas stood at $2.33 — a 97% surge compared to the current average price of $4.59, the Gas Misery Index reported. Motorists are spending $1,187 more on gas annually than when he became president.

JPMorgan is expecting prices to reach a national average of $6.20 per gallon by August — a 37% increase, Fox Business reported. JPMorgan attributes this to an assumption that people will want to drive more throughout the summer, between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) recently wrote a letter asking the Biden administration to ramp up domestic oil production in the Gulf of Mexico to mitigate surging energy prices, E&E News reported.

"Increasing domestic oil production to meet demand is a critical step to lowering gas prices and reducing our reliance on foreign sources," Manchin and Kelly said in the letter.