In This Story
Sixty million Americans are expected to travel by car this Fourth of July weekend – but rising gas prices could put a damper on Independence Day travel plans.
The cost of gasoline has risen by an average of $0.02 per gallon in the last week, according to AAA data. This increase comes in the wake of continuing tensions in the Middle East and the earliest-ever category five hurricane in the Caribbean.
“I expect the national retail price of gasoline to increase $0.05 to $0.10 per gallon over the next seven days,” Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, told Yahoo Finance.
While American oil production has yet to be directly impacted by Hurricane Beryl, projections indicate that the storm could turn toward Corpus Christi, Texas.
“If [hurricanes] hit the Gulf Coast, it could disrupt that center of US refining capacity, which is about 50% of total capacity in the US,” said TD Cowen managing director Jason Gabelman, according to Yahoo Finance.
“Since Gulf Coast refiners are already operating at 90% to 95% of their capacity, there is no slack in the system to make up for lost production when a major hurricane shuts down a significant number of refineries for any length of time.”
Concerns about severe weather hindering oil production also extend past the coming holiday weekend.
“The weather agencies are suggesting that this is going to be a very active hurricane season,” Gabelman told Yahoo Finance.
Despite the short-term rise in gas prices, however, drivers are still better off than they were in years past. This year’s Fourth of July gas prices are the lowest since 2021, according to GasBuddy, a fuel savings platform.
“For those hitting the road to celebrate Independence Day, gas prices have seen modest recent fluctuations, but most states are seeing prices near or even well below where they were a year ago,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, in a statement.
“While the first half of the summer has been relatively smooth sailing, the road ahead may be bumpy. Activity in the tropics has increased, and projections remain for a very busy hurricane season.”