The break we have been getting at the gas pump for the past three years is about to come to a screeching halt, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
GasBuddy.com today released its predictions for gas prices in 2018, and it's gonna hurt. Analyst Patrick DeHaan told News Radio 1200 WOAI that the days of prices under $2 are long gone.
"I think the worst it is going to get, will be a peak price in the mid $2 a gallon range," DeHaan said.
That is far higher than what we have been used to. Outside of the 'gas panic' that followed Hurricane Harvey, San Antonio in 2017 paid an average of about $2.10 a gallon, with prices of under $2 a gallon not uncommon around the city.
DeHaan says that will seem like a dream as we get into the summer driving season."In Houston, prices may peak between $2.35 and as high as $2.65, and Dallas could peak a little higher, anywhere from $2.45 and $2.70," he said. "That's probably where San Antonio will fall."
He says prices are already rising from last year, and he expects the higher prices to start showing up in late February and early March and peak in August.
GasBuddy cites several reasons for the higher pump prices.
DeHaan says OPEC has made significant reductions in production in an effort to raise prices, and that has had the effect of significantly cutting into gasoline supplies. In addition, he says U.S. gasoline exports are expected to hit a new record in 2018, and that will also cut into supplies, putting pressure on pump prices.
But, that said, DeHaan says it will be better to buy gas in Texas in 2018 than in almost any other part of the country.
"Texas will remain one of the nation's cheapest states, not only due to lower gasoline taxes, but also thanks to the proximity both to oil fields in west Texas but also to the refineries that process that crude oil."
GRAPH; GASBUDDY.COM