If you haven’t filled up your vehicle’s fuel tank in a week, be prepared for a shock the next time you pull up to the pump.
The statewide average price for regular gasoline hit $4.336 per gallon on Friday – a 36-cent increase from a week ago, according to AAA’s fuel price tracker. The national average on Friday was $4.392 per gallon for regular gas, which is a 33-cent increase in one week.
Essex County ($4.406 per gallon) and Cape May County ($4.401 per gallon) had the highest average prices in New Jersey while Salem County ($4.277 per gallon) and Warren County ($4.285 per gallon) had the lowest.
Statewide, New Jersey gasoline prices are $1.329 higher now than a year ago when a gallon of regular cost $3.007. Nationally, the average cost of regular is $1.12 more than it was this time last year as oil prices surge above $100 a barrel with no indication of when the Strait of Hormuz will reopen.
Business owners whose commercial trucking fleets run on diesel have seen even bigger increases. In New Jersey, the average cost of a gallon of diesel fuel was $5.673 on Friday, up $2.079 compared to a year ago. The national average for a gallon of diesel is $5.572, up $2.013 from last year.
By cutting off transit through the strait in March, Iran has significantly disrupted global oil prices. Normally, 20 million barrels of oil pass through the Strait of Hormuz daily, which is about 20% of the world’s petroleum supply.
