The national average price of regular unleaded gas in the United States soared to a record high of 4.67 U.S. dollars per gallon Wednesday and a further rise is widely expected over the coming months, Trend reports citing Xinhua.
According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), the national average of regular gasoline climbed by 5 cents on the first day of June to the fresh record, up by 48 cents from the previous month and over 1.60 dollars per gallon higher from a year ago.
Seven states are now at an average of 5 dollars or higher per gallon, AAA data showed, with Illinois becoming the latest to join California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona and Alaska.
In California, the gasoline price stood at 6.19 dollars on Wednesday, higher than the nation's average. However, many gas stations tagged a price even higher than that.
At a Chevron station off Alameda Street in Los Angeles downtown, customers were charged 7.89 dollars per gallon for regular unleaded gas on Wednesday afternoon. Local Fox 11 news channel reported Wednesday morning that they saw a crazy price gouging at 8.06 dollars.
"Today's price is pretty crazy, it used to be 6 dollars at most, I pumped," a driver calling himself Louis told Xinhua, saying he was shocked because in the area where he lives, the price is still lower than 7 dollars.
The average price of regular unleaded gas in the Los Angeles county, the most populous county in the United States, is 6.20 dollars a gallon on Wednesday, as the Mono county has the highest average price of 7.05 dollars in California, according to the AAA.
Matt Smith, a data analyst with Kpler, was quoted by USA Today as saying that an average of 5 dollars per gallon is "by no means beyond the realms of possibility."
"Gasoline prices will remain high as long as oil prices remain in the triple digits," Smith said. "It's going to hit the pocketbook far harder."
With expectations of strong driving demand through Labor Day in September, JPMorgan analysts predicted the national average price could surpass 6 dollars a gallon before this fall. Natasha Kaneva, JPMorgan's head of commodities strategy, told CNet that the price per gallon could jump to 6.20 dollars by August.