You may want to see how close to empty your car’s gas tank is and get a fill-up. U.S. gas prices are expected to rise this week due to an attach that damaged two oil facilities in Saudi Arabia.
Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis with GasBuddy, said to CBS MoneyWatch that consumers should expect prices at the pump to rise between 10 cents and 25 cents for a gallon of regular gas by Tuesday.
“At 6 p.m. tonight, we will start to see tanker trucks fill up and adjust their prices,” DeHaan said Monday. “The first gas stations will be filling up with pricier gasoline later this evening. We could conceivably see price hikes later tonight but that would be the earliest. We expect the first impact to hit the pump tomorrow.”
The effect of the attack will be spread evenly across the America, but the West Coast could see slightly higher gas prices than the rest of the country, according to DeHaan.
The publisher of the Lundberg Survey of U.S. fuel markets,Trilby Lundberg, also expects gas costs to increase.
“Right now, we have the first inkling of the oil market’s response to these attacks, and based on what the main benchmarks are doing, we expect the hit to U.S. gasoline prices to be 16 cents,” Lundberg said.
Despite these dire predictions, President Donald Trump appeared eager to ease fears that the attack, coupled with rising tensions in the Middle East, could hurt consumers.
“Because we have done so well with Energy over the last few years (thank you, Mr. President!), we are a net Energy Exporter, & now the Number One Energy Producer in the World. We don’t need Middle Eastern Oil & Gas, & in fact have very few tankers there, but will help our Allies!” he stated Monday in a tweet.
And U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Monday that the Department of Energy is prepared to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to offset the attack’s effects on global energy markets.
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