Happy New Year! Higher gas prices
Gas prices approaching $5 a gallon in Porterville this summer? According to Gasbuddy.com, it’s possible.
While there has been a little bit of relief at the gas pump in recent weeks as there’s been a slight decrease in gas prices, don’t look for that to continue as the new year begins in 2022, according to Gasbuddy.com, a website that monitors gas prices.
Gasbuddy.com is predicting a sharp increase in gas prices in 2022. The website stated a national average of $4 per gallon is possible this spring due to a continued pandemic recovery. Supply will continue to far outpace demand before relief in the form of additional oil supply comes later in 2022, Gasbuddy added.
Gasbuddy.com expects the national average gas price to rise about 40 cents in 2022 from ending at $3.02 for the entire year in 2021 to $3.41 per gallon in 2022. The national average this week fell 4.3 cents from the previous week to $3.25 per gallon.
The cheapest gas prices in Porterville have been running about a $1 higher than the national average. On Wednesday afternoon Gasbuddy reported the cheapest gas found in Porterville was at C&L Market at 11 W. Olive at $4.22 per gallon. Among the other cheapest places in Porterville have been about $4.24 per gallon.
The first half of 2022 will be painful at the gas pump, Gasbuddy stated. In June the national average could peak at $4.13 per gallon, the website stated. That would put Porterville’s average gas price in the $5 range.
Relief should eventually come by next holiday season with the national average potentially falling to under $3 a gallon in December, 2022. But that would still put Porterville in the $4 range.
Gasbuddy also stated cities in the state such as San Francisco and Sacramento could see gas prices “soar” to over $5 per gallon this summer. Gasbuddy also predicts the average household will spend the most on gasoline it has spent since 2014.
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for Gasbuddy, said as the economy continues to recover from COVID-19 that will lead to higher gas prices.
“The higher prices go, the stronger the economy is,” he said. “No one would love to see $4 per gallon gasoline, but we'll only get there on the back of a very strong economy, so it's not necessarily bad news.”
De Haan also cautioned, though, with COVID still around there's still more uncertainty than in a NON-COVID year. “But all signs point to gas prices remaining elevated next year until the high prices attract additional oil supply, which will help prices cool off as we end 2022,” De Haan said.