Why are gasoline prices close to $5 a gallon and how far will they go in the US?

Wall Street expects gasoline to become more expensive 1:03 (CNN Business) — Another day, another record US gas price. The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in the US reached $4.96, according to the latest reading from the American Automobile Association (AAA) on Wednesday. It is the 12th day in a row and the 29th time in the last 30 days that gasoline has hit a record high in the United States. In much of the country, $5 gasoline is already here. There are now 16 states, plus the city of Washington, with averages of $5 or more. Idaho, Ohio and Pennsylvania have been the latest states to cross that threshold. The state with the highest prices remains California, with a statewide average of $6.39 per gallon. The state average increased by at least a penny in every state except Florida, where prices were essentially unchanged. And on Tuesday, 29% of the country’s 130,000 gas stations were already selling gasoline for more than $5 a gallon. And the worst is yet to come for drivers. With the summer travel season about to kick off, demand for gasoline, coupled with cut Russian oil shipments due to the war in Ukraine, is driving up oil prices on world markets. The national gasoline average could approach $6 by the end of this summer, according to Tom Kloza, global head of Energy Analysis at OPIS, which tracks gasoline prices for PRASA. “Everything goes from June 20 to Labor Day (September in the US),” Kloza said of gasoline demand as people hit the road for the long-awaited vacation. “Whatever the price of gas is, people are going to go on vacation.” Although the United States has never imported significant amounts of oil from Russia, the product is traded on world markets, and Europe relied heavily on Russian exports. The recent decision by the European Union to ban tanker shipments from Russia sent oil prices skyrocketing in those world markets. Crude oil is now above $120 a barrel, up from just under $100 a month ago, and prices continued to rise in early trading on Wednesday. Goldman Sachs forecast the average price of a barrel of Brent crude, the benchmark used for oil traded in Europe, to be $140 a barrel between July and September, up from its previous forecast of $125 a barrel. There are stations and states where gasoline is cheaper. About 20% of gas stations across the country still sell gasoline for less than $4.50 a gallon. But even in many states where gas is cheaper, like Mississippi, lower median earnings can mean drivers have to work longer to fill their tanks than in some states with high gas prices, like California. How much are drivers willing to pay before reducing their consumption? So far, the number of gallons pumped at gas stations in the last week of May is down just 5% from the same week a year ago, despite gasoline prices rising more than 50%. during the same period. The number of car trips in the US is down 5% since the beginning of May, according to mobility research firm Inrix, though those trips are still up 5% from the start of the year. The concern is that consumers will cut back on other spending to keep getting the miles they want or need to drive, which could tip an economy already showing some signs of weakness into recession. CNN’s Matt Egan contributed to this report*