Crude Oil Costs Keep Pushing Gas Prices Higher, but a Peak May be Near

Posted on May 5, 2018 
Author Michael Gallenberger, WKVI

Gas prices may be reaching a peak, but the cost of crude oil continues to cause concerns. “We’re very close to putting the worst days behind us,” says GasBuddy.com Senior Petroleum Analyst Patrick DeHaan, “though gas prices probably will still stay in the upper two-dollar range this summer, which is likely to be the highest since 2014.”

He says crude oil prices remain relatively high, rising back up to $69 a barrel Friday morning. “That’s considerably higher than where we were last year, when oil prices were around $50,” he explains. “So the big jump in the price of oil has continued, by and large, over the last couple of months, and that’s really behind the bulk of the increase that we’ve been witnessing in gas prices.”

When it comes to some other minor factors that helped push gas prices higher, like refinery maintenance, DeHaan says they’ve pretty much wrapped up. “There are some projects that linger but aren’t really making a dent to how much gasoline is being supplied to the market,” he says. “In addition, the transition to summer gasoline is largely complete. All refineries now are producing that stringent summer gasoline.”

DeHaan says that barring any unforeseen circumstances, prices shouldn’t go much higher in the near future. “I don’t know that we will breach that three-dollar mark. If we do, it would be temporary. I think for most of the summer, prices should be in the upper two-dollar-a-gallon range.”

According to GasBuddy.com, Indiana gas prices are more than 70-cents-a-gallon higher on average than they were a year ago.