METAIRIE (WGNO) — Gas prices are expected to hit an all-time high this week. With the National average topping $4 and locally prices are on the rise, all of this is causing pain and strain at the pump for drivers.
“Too much, it needs to stop,” Larry Smith, Driver said.
Larry Smith wants gas prices to stop going up!
“Everything is going up, but the pay nowadays,” he said.
Locally the average is around $3.87 a gallon.
“I hope one day we see it one dollar something again,” Smith said.
But Larry better not hold his breath because Pierre Conner, the Executive Director of Tulane’s Energy Institute says gas prices are so high because crude oil prices increased 10 percent last week and continue to rise.
“Why are crude oil prices so high you might ask, the risk of disruptions of Russia’s excess oil production. What it is going to take is some increased production to offset this risk, that’s potentially disruptive from Russia,” Conner said.
Conner said it doesn’t look like drivers will see any sort of relief at the pump soon.
“Think about it, 42 gallons in a barrel of oil so for every $10 we will see about a 25 cent increase at the pump,” Conner said.
He went on to say, “We don’t have the capacity to open a valve, there’s a lot of capital that needs to be invested and a lot of planning.”
For drivers like Larry, they just may look into other options instead of driving.
“Ride my bike or skateboard or something. It is beyond our control right now,” he said.