Gasoline is expected to climb to the $4-per-gallon mark again as surging oil prices and shrinking refining capacity hit supply. <\/p>\n
Prices at the pump hovered at $3.87 per gallon on Monday, roughly $0.08 higher than a week ago, according to AAA data.<\/a> <\/p>\n “The pain at the pump is about to intensify,” GasBuddy head petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan said on Monday afternoon. <\/p>\n Oil prices have surged as the US said it would reimpose its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Ukraine has knocked out up to 40% of Russian refining capacity<\/a> with its drone strikes. <\/p>\n “Motorists are facing a rare double whammy: rising crude oil prices and shrinking global supply of refined products at the same time,” De Haan noted. <\/p>\n The strategist predicts the national average price of gasoline “will reach $4 per gallon in the next 7\u201310 days, if not sooner. ” <\/p>\n De Haan also forecasts that diesel prices are likely to reach $5 per gallon again by the end of this week, potentially as soon as Friday. Diesel prices hovered at $4.87 per gallon on Monday, around $0.13 higher than one week ago. <\/p>\n Brent crude (BZ=F<\/a>) futures, the international benchmark, jumped 9.5% on Monday to trade above $83 per barrel, its biggest one-day jump since May 2020. West Texas Intermediate crude (CL=F<\/a>) topped $78 \u2014 levels not seen in just shy of a month. <\/p>\n Gasoline prices climbed above $4.50 per gallon in May<\/a> following a surge in oil prices amid the conflict in the Middle East. <\/p>\n Ines Ferre is a Senior Business Reporter for Yahoo Finance covering the US stock market, publicly traded companies, and commodities. <\/p>\n