(WXYZ) — Since the start of the war with Iran last month, gas prices have been soaring. According to AAA's gas tracker, the average in Michigan is now over $4, with the statewide average coming in at $4.01. That's a nine-cent jump since yesterday, but metro Detroit drivers are still paying just under $4.
With spring break and the summer travel season just on the horizon, drivers are hoping to see prices go back down. The good news is that the switch over to a more expensive summer gasoline blend has already happened. The bad news is that with the war raging on in the Middle East, don't expect prices to go back down ahead of any travel plans.
Drivers are not happy with the rising gas prices. The jump at the pump since the war with Iran started has been hitting the wallets of metro Detroiters.
“Well, you don’t like to pay more, of course," said Southfield resident Fred Butters.
It has Donte Cutler, a Detroit resident, rethinking where he drives.
“It is extraordinarily too high. Four dollars?! Four dollars too high," he said.
“Would you like to plan a nice getaway somewhere in Michigan where you would be able to drive?” I asked Cutler.
“Yeah I would want to take my wife to Oasis, that’s in Ann Arbor, that is going to at least be $40 just to go there, I’d like to plan something, take the kids out take them maybe skiing you know all the way out there in the mountains, but can’t do that because the gas is high.”
And it's not just driving you have to worry about: high diesel prices are making it tough to fly.
“I’m not necessarily a road person, but I have been looking at flights, and flight prices have gone up as well," said Calvin Patillo from Waterford.
I took these travel concerns to Patrick De Haan, the Head of Petroleum Analysis with Gas Buddy, who said it may be hard to predict what spring and summer gas prices are going to look like.
“I mean, at this point, it is really just a function of what is happening in the Middle East, how long the Strait of Hormuz will essentially be shut down by the threat of Iranian attack.”
But there are other factors that will keep prices up, including an increase in demand, with more people traveling during the warmer months, and refineries in our area performing seasonal maintenance.
But the biggest factor impacting gas prices is the war in Iran. About 20-21 million barrels of oil pass through the Strait of Hormuz daily, which is about 20 percent of global consumption.
President Donald Trump has tapped into oil reserves to help provide some relief. But De Haan says it's not enough oil to make up for the shortfall.
“We probably will see a little bit more of an increase; we could see over four dollars a gallon here in the next few weeks, before we hit that peak in mid to late April," De Haan said. “At best, I think right now we’d see prices slip in the mid-3s — maybe the low 3s — by mid-summer if everything goes well, but we still could go much higher depending on how long the situation continues.”
But even with the high prices, some are itching to get out. I asked Butters if the gas increase will impact his travel plans.
“It’s not enough to cause me to change my plan, now if it was 7 dollars a gallon, oh yeah, then I would.”
