Drivers could be in for pain at the pump during the busy summer travel months, with an average of $4.80 per gallon or higher expected between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
The dire forecast, from gas-tracking service GasBuddy released Wednesday, comes as the Strait of Hormuz remains shut as the US and Iran maintain a tenuous cease-fire in the Middle East.
GasBuddy cautioned the national average could continue ticking up — beyond the record of $5.03 per gallon set in summer 2022 when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine rocked oil markets.
“We’ll likely see record levels later this summer,” GasBuddy Head of Petroleum Analysis Patrick De Haan told The Post.
“It’s very much contingent on how long the Strait remains closed.”
Memorial Day weekend itself is expected to see prices around $4.48 per gallon — significantly higher than last year’s holiday weekend, when prices were $3.14 per gallon.
President Trump has brushed off Americans’ concerns about filling up, however, calling gas prices “peanuts” compared to the cost of Iran getting its hands on nuclear weapons.
“You want to see the world exploded?” Trump told reporters at the White House Tuesday. “We cannot let them have a nuclear weapon.”
“This is peanuts, and I appreciate everybody putting up with it for a little while. It won’t be much longer,” he said.
The war broke out on Feb. 28 when the US killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dozens of top officials in an airstrike that sparked hostilities across the country.
Gas prices have steadily risen ever since, averaging about $4 a gallon in every state but Mississippi and Georgia as of Wednesday, according to GasBuddy. Prices in those two states are both hovering just below the $4 threshold.
Four states — Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Illinois — have seen averages break $5 per gallon, while California was averaging $6.13 per gallon as of Wednesday afternoon.
And Americans are reporting the strain on their summer plans — with 56% of people planning to make drives longer than two hours, compared to 69% who did last year, according to GasBuddy.
Another 67% reported gas prices were directly affecting their travel plans.
