{"id":42243,"date":"2026-08-13T03:16:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T22:16:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=42243"},"modified":"2026-08-13T03:16:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T22:16:35","slug":"gasoline-prices-stick-at-4-per-gallon-as-iran-war-drags-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=42243","title":{"rendered":"Gasoline prices stick at $4 per gallon as Iran war drags on"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/AP26218835889504-e1786570498786.jpg?w=900\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n        <iframe id=\"instaread_iframe\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Audio Article\" style=\"display:block\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\"><\/iframe>\n    <\/p>\n<p><\/instaread-player><\/p>\n<p>Prices that U.S. consumers are paying at the gas pump have stubbornly stuck around $4 per gallon, a <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/business\/6025168-fuel-prices-highest-level-gasbuddy-analysis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">high price for this late<\/a> in the summer, as the Iran war\u2019s trajectory remains uncertain.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re paying more than we\u2019ve ever paid this time of year,\u201d said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Gulf Oil. \u201cFor August, this is pretty high.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Oil prices tend to rise in the summer as the country faces its peak driving season and slump in the autumn as seasonal demand goes down and heat-related restrictions on blending volumes lift.<\/p>\n<p>The average U.S. gasoline price as of Wednesday was about $4.04, <a href=\"https:\/\/gasprices.aaa.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according to\u00a0AAA<\/a>, about 90 cents higher than the average price a year ago.<\/p>\n<p>Prices of <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/business\/6023432-inflation-cpi-july-iran-war\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">gasoline have spiked<\/a> alongside oil prices during the Iran war, especially as the conflict has diminished traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping chokepoint.<\/p>\n<p>The last time gasoline prices faced a significant spike was in 2022 amid Russia\u2019s war with Ukraine. That year, the average gasoline price peaked at just above $5 per gallon.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>However, by August, prices had started to come down. According to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eia.gov\/dnav\/pet\/hist\/leafhandler.ashx?f=m&amp;n=pet&amp;s=emm_epm0_pte_nus_dpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Energy Information Association<\/a>, the average price for the month of August 2022 was $4.09 per gallon.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20220000000000*\/https:\/\/gasprices.aaa.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Historic AAA data<\/a>\u00a0shows that by Aug. 12 of that year, the average U.S. price slid to $3.99 per gallon.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>The next highest monthly average for August came in 2023, when prices were about $3.95 per gallon.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Kloza projected that prices could remain stubborn for the next four to five weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, Jim Mitchell, director of oil trading analytics at Wood Mackenzie,\u00a0said he expects gasoline prices to remain high for the next four to six weeks, but they could come down after that.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cWith winter gasoline, you\u2019re blending in way cheaper components, so, once we get by probably the next four to six weeks, we\u2019ll see much upward price pressure on gasoline,\u201d Mitchell said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Around the midterms, where fuel prices and affordability in general are <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/administration\/6024533-donald-trump-approval-rating-sours-economist-yougov\/amp\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">expected to be a major voting issue<\/a>, Kloza said, \u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re going to have apocalyptic prices in the next 90 days or so, but I do think they\u2019re going to be as high as they\u2019ve ever been for this time of year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said that barring an impactful hurricane, this could mean an average of about $3.50 to $3.75 per gallon.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr4_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>David Doherty, head of natural resources at BloombergNEF, said that because of the challenges in getting crude oil out of the Strait of Hormuz and to refineries where it can be processed, other parts of the world are instead buying gasoline produced in the U.S., driving up demand.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCertain markets buy crude from the Middle East and then they process that \u2026 and some of them can\u2019t do that now,\u201d Doherty said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe U.S. is basically sending a bunch of different oil products to Europe to fill some of the gap,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr5_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Kloza also said that drone strikes in Russia and the Middle East are reducing global oil refining capacity and raising prices in the process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not a crude oil production crisis now. It\u2019s more of a refined products production crisis,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And Kloza warned that as the price of diesel, which fuels trucks used to ship goods, is also high, Americans could see higher prices for everyday products.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr6_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cThe biggest problem with the CPI [consumer price index] going forward, will arrive via the additional costs related to freight and movement that are tied to high diesel prices,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prices that U.S. consumers are paying at the gas pump have stubbornly stuck around $4 per gallon, a high price for this late in the summer, as the Iran war\u2019s trajectory remains uncertain. \u201cWe\u2019re paying more than we\u2019ve ever paid this time of year,\u201d said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Gulf Oil. \u201cFor August,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42244,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/AP26218835889504-e1786570498786.jpg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}