Price At The Pump: Washington Fuel Prices Some Of The Highest

Thanks to the ongoing war in Iran, oil prices remain high; that’s nothing new. And thanks to those high oil prices, fuel prices are expected to continue to move up for the foreseeable future.

As of Tuesday morning both West Texas Crude and Brent Crude were trading higher by roughly 3%, at $96 and $103 per barrel respectively.

Gas, Diesel Prices Expected To Continue To Climb

Patrick DeHaan with Gasbuddy.com noted that fuel prices are lagging behind oil prices right now, and he expects retail fuel prices will continue to catch up following last week’s big spike in oil prices. He added, thanks to this most recent jump Washington now some of the highest fuel prices in the nation.

"[Diesel for example] reaching an average price of $6.01. That is $6 and a penny for an average account of diesel," DeHaan said. "That is up from $4.75 a month ago. Average gas price in Washington State up 24 cents from a week ago. The statewide average for gasoline about $4.90. So we continue to see an increase. I do expect that diesel prices could go up another 5-20 cents a gallon, gasoline maybe up another 5-15 cents a gallon before we potentially start seeing some level off.”

Photo: Glenn Vaagen

DeHaan said the state’s Cap and Trade is the main reason fuel prices in Washington are so much higher than the national averages.

Can The U.S. Increase Oil Production?

On the national scene, with oil prices at some of the highest levels we’ve seen since 2022, will the U.S. increase domestic production? DeHaan said any incremental increase that can happen to oil production is likely already taking place.

“But these types of decisions that yield higher oil production take years to implement and rely on a sustained period of higher oil prices," DeHaan said. "For now, we've only seen oil prices elevated for a couple of weeks. So” it may take a long time for higher oil prices today to lead to lower prices and more production.”

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