GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Gas prices are continuing to tick upwards ahead of the 4th of July travel holiday.
Millions of Americans are set to hit the road this week, and gas prices are hitting their highest point in years.
“With the pandemic easing and demand for gasoline now soaring, prices across Wisconsin are getting uncomfortable. Prices are now over $3 in some of the bigger cities, or just under $3 a gallon across most Wisconsin,” said GasBuddy Petroleum Analyst Patrick DeHaan. “All of this really has to do with the fact that millions of Americans are hitting the road during the summer, especially ahead of July 4th. So unfortunately, there’s not any relief in sight.”
Demand has been slowly increasing since the start of the year as the pandemic and COVID-19 cases have seen a drastic slide.
“Businesses have reopened, giving Americans many more destinations this summer,” DeHaan told WTAQ News.
The prices may seem even worse than they actually are, once you compare them to this time last year – when gas prices fell through the floor.
“Last year was an abnormality. We’ve never seen such a pandemic that caused Americans to put the cars in the garage for such a long period of time, and that huge reduction in demand is solely responsible for the low price,” DeHaan explained. “It was a guarantee that after such a decimation of gasoline demand that prices were going to bounce back, it wouldn’t matter who is in the White House or any the side issues.”
DeHaan adds that the economy slowed so significantly, the roaring return of prices was imminent as the pandemic numbers began to fall.
“Not only has demand gone up, supply is only starting to recover. Thousands of workers in the oil industry were let go early on in the pandemic because of a plummet in the price of oil and demand, and only now are oil companies slowly starting to be able to add some workers back,” DeHaan said.
To find gas prices around your area, head to GasBuddy.com.
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