Soaring gasoline prices causing lines at local pumps

The cost of gas locally and nationally has jumped sharply in the past week, and area service stations are witnessing customers lining up to top off their tanks before prices leap again.

Comparison

• Cape Girardeau: gas was selling Friday in a range of $3.24 to $3.59. A week ago, the spread was $3.15 to $3.29.
• Jackson: Friday's prices were at $3.19 to $3.59. Seven days earlier, the range was $3.02 to $3.19.
• Scott City: the Feb. 28 price of $3.19 increased to a $3.39 to $3.59 range.

Southeast Missouri prices at the pump, according to GasBuddy, continue to trail the U.S. average.

Gas prices nationally jumped 11 cents in a single day, Friday, to a U.S. average of $3.84 a gallon, according to AAA, which noted it is the highest average price since September 2012.

Prices at the pump have soared 18 cents since Wednesday and 29 cents since Russia invaded Ukraine a little more than one week ago.

Fuel costs are up roughly a dollar from a year ago, industry data show, a blow for millions of Americans grappling with a broad increase in inflation.

Events

Patrick DeHaan, chief petroleum analyst for GasBuddy, pointed to Russia's war with Ukraine as the primary culprit for the price spike.

Russia is one of the world's top oil producers. The U.S. imports an estimated 5% of its oil from that nation.

Oil prices increased earlier this week to more than $100 a barrel.

The Biden administration and officials from 30 other countries have pledged to release 60 million barrels from strategic reserves as a means of blunting the price rises with hopes OPEC and other major oil-producing countries will boost production.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she supports banning Russian oil imports to the U.S.

Economists warn such a prohibition could also cause a bigger increase in prices at the pump, fueling calls to expand oil or gas drilling in the United States.

Holiday

Before Memorial Day, the average U.S. price at the pump may hit $4 per gallon even without the current Russia-Ukraine tensions, with De Haan suggesting gas prices in some parts of the U.S, may hit $5 per gallon "in the next couple of weeks."

Anticipated additional driving due to warmer weather and the annual transition by refineries to summer gasoline are expected to impact gasoline's cost by the May 30 holiday.