The price of gasoline hit record highs on Friday, as consumers are grappling with soaring inflation.
With oil prices still well above $100 per barrel, drivers are unlikely to see much relief at the pump for now.
The futures market in gasoline tends to peak in May. This May brought a lot of mayhem, if you will. The OPIS head of energy analysis, Tom Kloza, told Yahoo Finance.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is expected to keep oil prices high, he said.
We're looking at higher prices in the next week or so. Maybe a little bit of moderation before July. But July and August are going to be sizzling months, according to the analyst.
The Consumer Price Index was released earlier this week at 8.3% year over year, showing that inflation is still red hot. In April, gasoline prices fell somewhat, but are expected to tick back due to oil price volatility and gasoline futures' record highs.
We're going to have to deal with a lot of insidious inflation because we're looking at the highest diesel prices ever, and the largest jet fuel prices ever. Kloza said that it's going to manifest itself in higher airfare and pretty much higher everything that moves across the country.
We are looking at epic, epic margins for U.S. refiners right now. Kloza said that the people that refine the oil into products like diesel, jet fuel, and gasoline are making epic profits because of all the different areas of the business.
He said that they are not because they are colluding, but because the market is bidding it up.