U.S. gas prices rise as oil hits $111 a barrel

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Gasoline prices successful the U.S. jumped connected Wednesday, arsenic the Iran war continues to instrumentality a toll connected vigor infrastructure successful the Middle East and dilatory shipping successful the Strait of Hormuz.

Drivers present wage an mean of $3.84 per gallon, up from $2.92 a period agone and the highest level since September 2023, according to information from AAA.

Diesel prices are besides surging arsenic the warfare constricts planetary lipid supplies. On Tuesday, prices topped $5 a gallon for the archetypal clip since 2022. Diesel present apical $6 ia gallon successful California, Hawaii and Washington, according to AAA.

Brent hits $111 a barrel

Gas prices are rising owed to the surge successful crude oil, which successful the U.S. accounts for 51% of the cost of a gallon of gas. A tube of Brent crude, the planetary benchmark, has surged from astir $70 per tube conscionable earlier the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran connected Feb. 28 to arsenic precocious arsenic $111.45 connected Wednesday afternoon, according to FactSet. The terms for a tube of benchmark U.S. crude roseate to $99.24.

Crude has soared and swung rapidly successful caller weeks, owed to proviso concatenation disruptions and cuts from large producers crossed the Middle East. Iran connected Wednesday threatened to attack lipid and state infrastructure successful Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates aft claiming that immoderate of its state fields and related infrastructure were targeted.

Patrick De Haan, a petroleum adept astatine GasBuddy, suggested markets could motion disconnected concerns astir escalating unit successful the Persian Gulf arsenic they hold to spot if Iran follows done connected its threats.

"Will Iran travel up and what does that look like, and however the U.S. mightiness respond — that would beryllium baked into the terms of oil," helium said.

The White House has precocious taken actions to easiness vigor prices. On Wednesday, President Trump issued a 60-day waiver of the Jones Act, a instrumentality that requires goods shipped betwixt American ports to beryllium carried connected ships that are U.S.-built, -flagged and -crewed.

But De Haan called the measurement a "band-aid" solution that was improbable to sharply trim state prices, saying that lipid markets are much focused connected the risks successful the Strait of Hormuz.

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