TROY, Mich. (WXYZ) — Gas prices in metro Detroit have spiked sharply over the past month, with some stations now charging more than $4 a gallon for regular unleaded fuel as the conflict in the Middle East continues to escalate.
The average price for a gallon of unleaded gas in the area has surged to $3.65, according to AAA, but some stations have surpassed the $4 mark.
Watch Jolie Sherman's video report below:
Just one week ago, the average was $3.52. A month ago, gas was less than $2.98. That is a 67-cent jump in just 30 days.
“As you can see, the gas prices are extremely high. They’re constantly raising. It’s blowing my mind to be honest,” driver Julian Gueringer said.
At the BP station between Big Beaver and Crooks roads in Detroit, gas is over $4.
Rising pump prices has many drivers in shock.
“It’s taking more and more to get a full tank,” driver Samantha Bodnar said.
It cost Raphael Willians $80 at the pump on Monday. He says between work and running his kids to their activities, it feels like he’s always filling up.
“Constantly going, constantly going. Trying to meet the needs of God’s people and my family as well. My kids are in soccer, they're in dance. They're far distances, so I have to drive so much from one side of the city to the other side every day," Williams said.
Not all drivers are filling up all at once.
“I make certain that I don’t let my gas tank get below half tank because I cannot afford a full tank of gas,” driver Nicole Shorts said.
The last time we saw gas prices at the $4 mark was in 2022
“If oil is not able to get through the strait, it doesn’t get to markets and therefore, that restricted supply means that prices go up,” said David Dulio, a professor of political science at Oakland University.
Dulio says there could soon be some relief.
“President Trump has said he’s going to release some oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which could at least temporarily provide a bit of relief in the market and drive down, he hopes, the cost of oil per barrel,” Dulio said.
In the meantime, drivers are doing what they can to fuel up.
“That’s why I said, their first, their last and everything. People are giving everything that they have to do it,” Gueringer said.
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