The average price for a gallon of gas national has hit a new record high amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, tweeted on Monday afternoon, “According to GasBuddy data, the US national average has JUST set a new all-time record: $4.104/gallon, eclipsing 2008’s record of $4.103/gal.”
“The higher prices this time will likely stay around far longer,” he added.
In a press release on Monday, De Haan said, “Americans have never seen gasoline prices this high, nor have we seen the pace of increases so fast and furious. That combination makes this situation all the more remarkable and intense, with crippling sanctions on Russia curbing their flow of oil, leading to the massive spike in the price of all fuels: gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and more.”
“It’s a dire situation and won’t improve any time soon. The high prices are likely to stick around for not days or weeks, like they did in 2008, but months,” he added.
He also predicted that the yearly national average will set a new record high.
Additionally, GasBuddy reports, “The national average is seeing its largest ever 7 day spike: 49.1 cents per gallon, eclipsing the 49.0 cent weekly rise after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Many gas price records have been broken due to Russia’s war on Ukraine, which has pushed Western countries to impose severe sanctions on Russia, curbing Russian exports of crude oil to the global market.
The new record high for the national average comes after the price for a gallon of gas rose above $4 for the first time since 2008, as IJR reported.
De Haan told the New York Post that while the U.S. has not placed sanctions on Russia’s energy sector, “Previous sanctions on Russia’s banking and shipping industries [are] essentially putting a chokehold on Russian oil exports, which have plummeted.”
“Certainly those existing sanctions are having a significant impact, and that’s why oil [has] continued to go up in recent days,” he added.