The price of fuel in the United States in general had increased substantially in recent weeks due to a number of factors — one of many which has been cited is the hostile invasion of Ukraine by armed military forces of Russia — to the point where some fuel stations priced gasoline beyond nine dollars per gallon…
Where Diesel Fuel Exceeds $10 Per Gallon in the United States
…but although prices for fuel have stabilized within recent days — and have even started to decrease in some areas around the United States for at least two reasons — the price for a gallon of fuel at the time this article was written has reportedly increased from its highest price at one fuel station where a gallon of either mid-grade or premium gasoline now exceeds nine dollars per gallon…
| Fuel Station |
Regular |
Mid Grade |
Premium |
Diesel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Furnace Creek CA-190, Furnace Creek |
$8.99 | $9.23 | $9.46 | $10.23 |
…and note that $10.23 per gallon for diesel: with the 0.009 addition to the price per gallon — which means that the gallon effectively costs $10.24 — and that means a vehicle with a 30 gallon tank which requires diesel fuel will cost as much as $306.90 to fill.
Interestingly, most signs which display the price of a gallon of fuel only has three digits. How does the number 10 fit in a single digit?
In addition to the aforementioned conflict between Russia and Ukraine, other factors which have converged and were cited to have contributed to fuel prices substantially rising in the United States include inflation, the 2019 Novel Coronavirus pandemic, increased demand for fuel as the start of the summer driving season nears, and the switch to summer blend gasoline from the winter version of the fuel — all of which propelled the average price for a gallon of gasoline in the United States all of which propelled the average price for a gallon of gasoline in the United States to increase for eleven consecutive weeks to another new record level of $4.325 before stabilizing and dropping by slightly greater than five cents to $4.274, according to data from the American Automobile Association.
However, DaninMCI — who is a reader of The Gate — disagrees that the current 2019 Novel Coronavirus pandemic caused fuel prices to increase: “In fact, it actually reduced travel for the last two years. Not to get too political here but President Biden caused much more damage to the price of oil and the cost to produce gasoline. One of the first things he did when he came into office on January 20th, 2021 was to sign a moratorium on oil production on federal lands and water. This was at least a 25% reduction in domestic oil production ability. This moratorium also included the withdrawal of the Keystone XL pipeline. While oil can still be moved by train or truck it causes a sharp increase in cost over a pipeline. It also makes it impractical to provide oil into the continental US from some areas of North America A week later on January 27th, 2021 he also directed the Secretary of the Interior to reduce royalties for oil, coal, and natural gas production. We haven’t even hit the two-year mark on public land oil production leases to be renewed. These are some of the major factors (beyond the current war issues) that are leading to the long-term increased cost of oil and gas. In February 2020, just before Covid set in, the price of oil was $53 per barrel. By April 2020 the price was down to $17 per barrel because of lack of demand due to Covid. As Covid lockdowns went away, vaccines developed in 2020 kicked in, January 2021 oil was back to the normal $52 a barrel range. By December 2021 (well before the current war) the price was $75 a barrel. Do I blame President Biden for the $5 a gallon gas? No, but I blame him for $4 a gallon gas. I sure don’t blame covid for high gas prices. I won’t even get into the poor decision to release our oil reserves during a time of war.”
Conversely, the good news is that you can still purchase a gallon of regular gasoline for $3.09 — if you pay in cash and happen to be at the Circle K fuel station on 5101 Wrightsboro Road in Grovetown, which is in the state of Georgia. That appears to be the lowest reported price per gallon of gasoline in the United States at the time this article was written.
Fuel prices in Georgia are currently decreasing, according to Gas Buddy — whereas fuel prices in California are currently increasing, which bucks the aforementioned national average.
Final Boarding Call
This interesting comment by Ric Garrido of Loyalty Traveler was posted in response to this article, with which I completely agree: “Yesterday I saw an article about how high gas is in Gorda, California along Big Sur route coastal route and today you write about Furnace Creek gas prices in Death Valley National Park. These are two very remote locations in California that are also major tourist locations. Anyone driving along 130 mile stretches of isolated and desolate roads without having filled up gas in one of the launch point cities, like Monterey or San Luis Obispo for Gorda or Las Vegas/Pahrump, NV/Bakersfield, CA, for Death Valley, places with plenty of gas stations, deserves to pay the premium price at these remote gas stations.”
One might be tempted to say that long gone are the days when the price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States was less than 89 cents per gallon — some gasoline prices were as low as 79 cents per gallon at one point — but that was not even two years ago in April of 2020.
If you operate a motor vehicle which uses diesel fuel — as illustrated in this article — you are unfortunately likely paying even more per gallon…
Diesel fuel was slightly less expensive than gasoline in Iceland — and I paid somewhere between eight dollars per gallon and nine dollars per gallon in Iceland back in 2018, which was the most I have ever paid for fuel.
Other articles at The Gate whose topic is gasoline and fuel include:
- Where Diesel Fuel Costs $10 Per Gallon in the United States
- Two Reasons to Expect Gasoline Prices to Drop. A Little Bit. Slowly.
- Where Gasoline Exceeds $9 Per Gallon in the United States
- Where Gasoline Exceeds $8 Per Gallon in the United States
- Where Gasoline Exceeds $7 Per Gallon in the United States
- Where Gasoline Exceeds $6 Per Gallon in the United States
- 14 Ways to Save Money on Fuel
- $115 Per Gallon of Gasoline Is the Rate That He Was Charged?
- Do Not Pay For a Fuel Shortfall in Your Rental Car
- Do Not Fill Plastic Bags With Gasoline.
- 13 Steps to Prevent Your Rental Car From Crime at Gasoline Stations
- Does Everything Seem More Expensive in 2021? That’s Likely Because Airfare, Lodging, Fuel, Rental Cars, and Other Items Are More Expensive
- Reader Question: Why Do Fuel Prices End in 9/10 of a Cent in the United States?
- Is Cheap Gasoline Manufactured From Carbon Found in Air The Fuel of the Future?
- Do Not Let This Mistake Happen to You When Filling a Vehicle With Fuel
- Three Reasons Why You Should Not Top Off the Fuel Tank of Your Car?
- Do You Pay In Advance for Fuel For Rental Car — or Do You Decline?
- Stupid Tip of the Day: The Side on Which to Pump When Refueling Your Rental Car
- 7 Tips on How to Avoid Being Charged for Fuel When Returning a Rental Car With a Full Tank of Gasoline
Unless otherwise noted, all photographs ©2016, ©2021 and ©2022 by Brian Cohen.
