Andrew Lipow, president of consulting firm Lipow Oil Associates, told The Hill on Monday that any additional increases in gasoline prices will likely be just a few cents.
“I expect that gasoline prices are going to drift up about three to five cents a gallon over the next couple of weeks,” Lipow said.
He added that after an initial 5 percent jump in the price of crude oil, “the market has sold off since then and now has turned negative.”
Oil prices fell Monday, and U.S. benchmark WTI crude was down to about $69 per barrel Monday afternoon — after jumping as high as $75 per barrel late last week in anticipation of U.S. strikes on Iran.
The U.S. hit Iranian nuclear facilities Saturday night, bringing the country directly into Iran’s conflict with Israel.
Gasoline prices were higher Monday, averaging $3.22 per gallon, up from $3.14 a week ago.
Austin Lin, principal analyst for refining and oil products at Wood Mackenzie, told The Hill he believed that fuel prices were higher than they would otherwise be as a result of the conflict, but that he did not believe they would rise much further.
“There's a good argument that says Q3 versus everyone's expectations from a month ago is going to see higher pricing,” Lin said. “I would temper that and say, I don't think there's probably a lot of uplift from where we currently are.”
Read more on the subject at TheHill.com.
