The national average of a gallon of gas hit $5 per gallon earlier this week, making it the first time in history this has ever happened.

That would make it a 66 cent increase over the past month.  According to gasbuddy.com, U.S. inventories have fallen over 25 million barrels since the start of March, due to the global decline in refining caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the increased summer demands of travel. The Russian war on Ukraine has also been no help, as it has increased the price of oil.

Regardless of the high gas prices, summer travel hasn’t come to a screeching halt.  The Vacationer released a summer travel survey for 2022:

• Nearly 81% said they would travel
• 42% said they would travel more than last summer
• 51% said they would travel by plane
• 80% said they would take a road trip

“It’s been one kink after another this year, and worst of all, demand doesn’t seem to be responding to the surge in gas prices, meaning there is a high probability that prices could go even higher in the weeks ahead,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “It’s a perfect storm of factors all aligning to create a rare environment of rapid price hikes. The situation could become even worse should there be any unexpected issues at the nation’s refineries or a major hurricane that impacts oil production or refineries this summer.”