The national average price for regular gas kept soaring on Wednesday, rising to a new yearly high of $4.229 per gallon, according to AAA. This is a greater-than-5-cent-per-gallon increase from Tuesday and more than 20 cents per gallon more expensive than just a week ago.
Wednesday’s new yearly high gas price came just a week after a monthly low of $4.02 per gallon for April fuel costs. It’s the latest price point in fluctuating gas prices which have changed significantly over the last 30 days. In addition to the change mentioned above over the last week, a month ago, a gallon of regular gas cost just $3.98. Today’s national average pricing was also the sixth consecutive day of increases at the pumps. Before that, gas prices had dropped for nine straight days.
Wednesday’s gas price average and new monthly and yearly highs for fuel came just 10 days after Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said in an interview on CNN with Jake Tapper that gas prices had “likely peaked” for the year. He also claimed that the national average price for a gallon of regular gas might not drop to near $3 per gallon levels until later this year, if not next year.
“I don’t know,” Wright said during the interview with Tapper. “That could happen later this year. That might not happen until next year. But prices have likely peaked.”
Later, President Donald Trump disagreed with his energy secretary, stating that gas prices would return to around $3 when the war in Iran had concluded.
Since gas hit $2.79 per gallon on Jan. 12, a five-year low, prices have gradually increased. Initially, winter weather nationwide was blamed for rising fuel costs, as snowstorms in January and February disrupted oil refinery operations and production. However, fuel prices began to soar after the Iran war began. During the first week of March, a gallon of regular gas increased to $2.98. By March 31, the national average price of regular gas had risen to $4.02 per gallon. Gas prices had previously reached a 2026 high of $4.16 per gallon on April 9, weeks before Wright’s projection. As a result, gas price projections have been a popular topic of discussion.
Earlier this month, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also predicted gas prices could return to $3 per gallon sometime during the summer.
“I’m optimistic that sometime between June 20 and September 20, we can have $3 gas again,” Bessent said at the time.
“We’ll see,” he added. “But I think over the summer we could see gas prices starting with a three sooner rather than later.”
Meanwhile, Chevron CEO Mike Wirth predicted higher gas prices for the remainder of the year during an interview on Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation with host Margaret Brennan. Because of the war in Iran, he predicted higher gas prices would be “with us for a period of time.”
“It’s very difficult to predict these things. Because markets are dynamic,” Wirth explained about the nature of gas prices. “They can respond to things that we don’t anticipate.”
“And the one reality is that these, these shock absorbers, are not as effective as you get down to lower levels of inventory,” he added. “And so I think that’s going to be with us for a period of time.”
Despite recent increases and overall fluctuations in the national average gas price, costs vary by region. The highest gas prices in the nation are in the western U.S. The lowest gas prices are found in the Midwest and the Great Plains states.
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Oklahoma continues to have the cheapest gas prices in the country at $3.658 per gallon. This is followed by Georgia, with a statewide average of $3.702 per gallon, and then Kansas at $3.703 per gallon. Arkansas is next at $3.744 per gallon, followed by Mississippi at $3.747 per gallon.
California remains the state with the highest statewide average gas price in the country, with a price slightly below $6 per gallon, at $5.983. This is followed by Hawaii at $5.634 per gallon. Next is Washington state at $5.539 per gallon. Oregon and Nevada are the remaining two states in the top five with the highest gas prices in the country at $5.119 and $5.099 per gallon, respectively.