Summer Gas Prices May Depend on Oil Production, Iran Sanctions

 

The Memorial Day travel period may be behind us, but gas prices continue to fluctuate. GasBuddy.com Senior Petroleum Analyst Patrick DeHaan says gas stations started raising their prices again late last week. “Oil prices had given up a little bit of ground on hopes that OPEC will raise production,” he explains, “but then quickly gave those losses back up and moved back up. Overall, I think we’ll see prices a little bit lower than where they were just ahead of Memorial Day weekend.”

DeHaan says that whether OPEC officially decides to raise production may not be known for another couple weeks. “That certainly could have a dramatic shift on the landscape of gas prices this summer,” he says. “We’re also kind of holding our breath to see if U.S. allies will follow our lead with sanctions on Iran. That certainly could stifle the flow of crude oil from Iran.”

Overall, he expects prices at the pump to stay in the upper-two-dollar to lower-three-dollar-a-gallon range for much of the summer.