The national retail average for a gallon of regular gasoline as of Saturday is $4.433. Diesel is $5.627.
WASHINGTON — Gas prices have risen 35 cents since last weekend.
The national retail average for a gallon of regular gasoline was $4.433 as of Saturday. That’s up 4 cents from yesterday’s average of $4.392 and up from $4.086 a week ago.
The national retail average for a gallon of diesel was $5.627 on Saturday. That’s up about 6 cents from Friday’s average of $5.572 and up 16 cents from last Saturday’s average of $5.465.
California, Washington, and Hawaii are the three most expensive states, with the average gallon of gas costing $6.088, $5.650 and $5.642, respectively.
They are the only three states that currently average above $5.50 per gallon. They also have the highest diesel prices. The average price Saturday for a gallon of diesel is $7.508 in California, $7.152 in Hawaii and $6.850 in Washington.
The states with the lowest gas prices are Georgia, Mississippi and Arkansas, with the average gallon of gasoline costing $3.838, $3.866 and $3.870, respectively.
The lowest prices for a gallon of diesel are Oklahoma, Texas and Nebraska, where the average prices are $4.982, $4.993 and $5.003, respectively.
As of this past week, gas prices are the highest they’ve been in four years, since late July 2022.
One year ago, the national retail average for a gallon of gasoline was $3.181 and $3.558 for diesel.
The surging prices seemed to stabilize or even decrease for about two weeks, following a temporary ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran that has been indefinitely extended.
However, the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route where roughly a fifth of the world’s oil passes, has effectively remained closed or extremely limited to passage due to dueling blockades by both countries. The volatility has greatly disrupted the global oil markets.
The main uncertainty for the global economy is where oil prices are heading because of the Iran war. Oil prices spurted higher early this week on worries that the war will keep the Strait of Hormuz closed for a long time. That would in turn keep oil tankers pent up in the Persian Gulf instead of delivering crude to customers worldwide.
On Friday, the U.S. warned shipping companies they could face sanctions for making payments to Iran to safely pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
The alert posted by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control adds another layer of pressure in the standoff between the U.S. and Iran over control of the Strait of Hormuz.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.