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Gasoline prices nationwide and in the D.C. area are beginning to show signs of spiking. They’re up nearly 9 cents in the last week, depending on the region of the country you’re in, according to gasoline market tracking firm GasBuddy.
Oil experts say prices are expected to increase as much as 30 cents a gallon in the coming months, and the higher prices are being caused by a combination of annual seasonal trends and increased military tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said the recent increase in gasoline prices in the D.C. area and nationwide are likely to be just the beginning of steady jumps.
“D.C. is average priced at $3.14 a gallon, maybe closer to the mid-$3 a gallon territory by the time we get to April or into Memorial Day,” he said. “The average gas price in the D.C. metro area jumped by about 6 cents a gallon in the last week.”
Nationally, unleaded regular gas prices are about 22 cents a gallon less expensive than they were a year ago.
AAA said Maryland’s average price of gasoline is $2.98 a gallon. In Virginia, the average is $2.83 a gallon.
This is the time of year when refineries begin the switch to more expensive summer-blended gasoline, De Haan noted, and that typically pushes prices up by more than 10 cents a gallon, depending on the location.
“It will be seasonal factors also pushing prices up, including rising demand as temperatures warm up, the transition to summer gasoline and refinery maintenance, which will be starting soon as well,” De Haan said.
But he said the wildcard is the huge U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf and the possibility of military action against Iran.
“Iran being a major oil producer, that could threaten the stability and supply of oil out of Iran,” De Haan said. “Oil prices have jumped to their highest level since last summer, $67 a barrel. On heightened geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
He said it’s hard to determine what will happen and if “that’s a big part of the equation.”
“Typically, during the late winter, spring, we generally see prices rise an average of 25 to 65 cents a gallon. So we are just getting started here with this increase,” he said. “Just the normal seasonal fluctuations, we see a pretty large increase over the next couple of months.”
