No relief in sight at the gas pump

Gas prices continue to climb in western Kentucky and across the country, with no slowdown in sight.

Wednesday's average price for gasoline across America surged to $4.31 per gallon. That's up five cents since yesterday, 61 cents higher than last week, and $1.50 higher than March one year ago.

Kentucky jumped to an average of $4.06 today, while Tennessee climbed to $4.11 and Illinois shot up to $4.58. Missouri, meanwhile, has one of the lowest state averages at $3.89.

Not only are the increases hitting us at the pump, we will start to see increases in price on consumer goods, due to increased shipping costs.

Patrick De Haan, chief petroleum analyst for GasBuddy, told West Kentucky Star that consumers will take two hits.

"It's going to be a double whammy--not only more expensive to fill your tank, but more expensive at the grocery store, to buy goods. Anything that's transported via diesel is going to see the increase coming."

While there are calls to increase oil production in the U.S., De Haan said that supply chain issues and labor concerns are limiting how much can be done.

"You could issue a million permits, tomorrow, and you could build a ton of pipelines, tomorrow. The problem is that you can't get oil out of the ground, because all the equipment to drill oil--there's just no equipment and there's massive delays, not to mention labor challenges."

De Haan traces equipment shortages, supply chain problems, and labor issues back to the dramatic changes in consumer habits at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
This is all another way to say there does not seem to be much relief in sight as prices at the pump reach all-time highs.

(Photo courtesy of patrickdehaan.com/Logo courtesy of the GasBuddy Facebook page)