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Average U.S. gasoline prices crossed $4.50 a gallon on Tuesday for the first time since July 2022, according to AAA, with the national average reaching $4.52 as disruptions to oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz push crude prices higher.
The strait has been effectively closed since fighting broke out on Feb. 28, blocking a chokepoint that previously handled roughly one-fifth of the world's daily oil shipments. The cost of a gallon of regular gasoline has climbed $1.54 since the war began, according to GasBuddy.
WTI crude rose to $105.33 per barrel, up almost $10 from the prior week's $95.94, while Brent climbed to $112.03 from $106.98. "For now, flows through the Strait remain restricted, further increasing the number of disrupted production volumes. Attacks on ships have also resumed, keeping upside pressure on prices," Giovanni Staunovo, UBS commodities strategist, said in an email cited by GasBuddy.
EIA data showed that as of April 24, domestic gasoline stocks had dropped to 222.3 million barrels — a level last seen in December and roughly 2 million barrels short of where inventories typically stand at this point in the year, following a weekly decline exceeding 6 million barrels. "U.S. gasoline inventories are already at multi-year seasonal lows, which means prices will face even more upward pressure," Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said according to ABC News.
Refinery problems compounded the supply pressure. BP's Whiting, Indiana, facility — which processes 440,000 barrels per day — was knocked partly offline after an electrical failure last week took one unit out of service; the company told Reuters that the plant has since returned to normal operations. States in the Great Lakes region saw the sharpest weekly price swings, with Indiana up 83.3 cents, Ohio up 78.1 cents, and Michigan up 68 cents, according to GasBuddy.
At $6.14 a gallon, California topped every other state in retail fuel costs, GasBuddy data showed. California's average crossed $6 a gallon last week, a level not seen in the state since October 2023, representing a 30% increase since the war began. The state's supply chain is more exposed than most because it receives no pipeline deliveries from Gulf Coast refiners and has lost roughly a fifth of its local refining capacity since two in-state refineries closed in October 2025.
U.S. Central Command rolled out an operation called "Project Freedom" on Sunday, deploying forces to escort merchant vessels navigating the strait, according to ABC News. At Tuesday's briefing, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed a pointed message at Tehran, demanding that Iran allow commercial shipping to move without interference or bear the consequences.
A brief lull in mid-April, when ceasefire optimism pushed prices lower, proved short-lived. "There is a true kind of upward pressure that's being exerted on prices every day the Strait of Hormuz is constrained. And it is still severely constrained," Rob Smith, director of global fuel retail at S&P Global Energy, told PBS NewsHour.