Gas prices across the country are below $4 a gallon for the first time since April, but drivers in Washington are still paying some of the highest prices in the nation.
The national average price for regular gasoline fell to $3.99 per gallon this week, according to GasBuddy, driven by a sharp drop in oil prices following a tentative agreement between the United States and Iran. The deal reportedly includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
In Washington, the average price remains about $5.46 per gallon, even after a drop of nearly 17 cents in the past week. That keeps the state among the most expensive markets in the country, trailing only California and Hawaii. The King-Snohomish-Pierce County average sits at $5.70 for a gallon of regular, according to AAA.
“We’ve lost well over a billion barrels of oil in the world market,” Bob McNally, founder and president of Rapidan Energy Group, told ABC News. “And the world market is what matters for the United States and for someone paying for gasoline at the pump.”
While the U.S.-Iran framework agreement has eased immediate concerns and sent oil prices lower, McNally warned that the recovery in supply will take time. Tankers blocked from moving through the Strait of Hormuz may take weeks or months to resume normal shipping patterns.
“There’s a risk that that hole will be with us, if you will, in July and August,” McNally said. “We still could see upward pressure on prices later this summer because of the size of the hole that has been ripped into the global oil market.”
Washington gas prices fuel political fight over Climate Commitment Act
The question of what’s driving Washington’s high gas prices has also fueled a long-running political fight in Olympia. State Sen. Chris Gildon, R-Puyallup, has called on Governor Bob Ferguson to temporarily suspend the Climate Commitment Act (CCA), arguing the program significantly raises costs at the pump and that a pause could quickly lower prices.
“He should put that policy on pause until economic conditions stabilize and fuel prices return to more sustainable levels,” Gildon stated in May.
He said the CCA may be contributing roughly 50 cents per gallon to gasoline costs as those expenses are passed on to consumers.
So far, state leaders have rejected those calls, instead pointing to global factors as the primary driver of recent price spikes.
This story was originally posted on MyNorthwest.com
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