Gas prices are climbing slightly in Massachusetts due in part to the U.S. and Israel's strikes on Iran this weekend and a general rise in prices during this time in the season.
Supply and demand data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) last week showed gasoline demand is strengthening as winter draws to a close and gasoline output is declining as refiners conduct maintenance before the busy summer driving season.
Demand for gas has picked up in the last few weeks, Mark Schieldrop, a spokesperson for Triple-A Northeast, said.
“So we're kind of playing catch up in terms of the price increases that we actually expected to have already seen here in the local gas market,” Schieldrop said. "Prices could climb a little bit more, but if it's only a few cents here and there, it's really tough to quantify how much of that is seasonal expectation and how much of that is disruption caused by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.”
Currently, the average gas price in Massachusetts is up a penny from last week, averaging $2.91 per gallon.
Schieldrop said Iran isn't a major exporter of oil to the U.S., so we won't be looking at supply issues here. But, he said, Iran has a lot of control over shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz, which is a narrow passage of water between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
Schieldrop said if cargoes aren't coming in and out of that strait, then there could be significant repercussions around the world, including higher gas prices in the U.S.
