Summer gas, oil prices likely to be highest in years

Venezuela, which has a vast reserve of heavy crude

• The limited ability of Russia and OPEC to significantly increase production, despite their claims to the contrary

The price of the best grade of U.S. oil traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange for delivery in June was more than $71 a barrel on Tuesday, while the price of the best grade of oil used in Europe was more than $78 a barrel.

NYMEX June gasoline commodity contracts were just above $2.20 a gallon. The rule of thumb that many gasoline dealers still rely on is that retail prices are about 70 cents higher than the NYMEX bulk price.

Just before the Trump administration announced last week its decision to reimpose sanctions on Iran, the federal Energy Information Administration predicted that gasoline in the U.S. would average about $2.90 a gallon this summer, up from $2.41 a gallon last summer. The EIA also forecast that summer prices would peak at a national average of $2.97 a gallon in June before falling to an average of $2.86 in September. The federal analysts predicted that the national average price for the entire year will be $2.79 a gallon, up from the 2017 average of $2.41 a gallon.

The New Jersey-based Oil Price Information Service forecast earlier this year that Americans would spend $955.6 million per day on fuel in 2018, or $348.8 trillion this year, the most since 2014. The service has been reviewing that calculation, given recent market developments.