TOMS RIVER, NJ – Gas prices across New Jersey spiked and peaked in the past 7 days, according to GasBuddy.com, a nationwide gasoline price monitoring index website. At the Jersey Shore, stations were selling gas anywhere from $4.19 to $4.49 this past week following a national trend.

Gas prices have been increasing steadily since President Joe Biden took office, but fears and speculation over the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two weeks ago sent prices soaring even higher.

“The national average price of gasoline in the U.S. today broke the existing record, rewriting the all-time high to today’s $4.104 per gallon, according to GasBuddy, the leading fuel savings platform saving North American drivers the most money on gas,” GasBuddy reported. “The previous all-time high was set back in 2008 at $4.103 per gallon, just ahead of the U.S. Great Recession and housing crisis. The national average price of diesel is also nearing a new record, now at $4.63 per gallon, likely to break the record of $4.846 per gallon in the next two weeks. “

President Biden has taken steps in an attempt to curb the rising fuel prices, but stopped short of agreeing to temporarily pause the 18.4 cents per gallon federal gas tax. Instead, Biden announced the release of 60 million barrels of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. This comes after a previous release of around 15 million barrels from the reserve in January.


Biden’s Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the administration is now negotiating with longtime enemy Venezuela.


“Certainly, Venezuela, as you all know, is the largest producer of oil in the world,” Psaki told reporters this week. “I would not focus a lot of them on conversations about the future of the United States importing oil at this point in time from Venezuela.”

“In addition to setting a new all-time high, the national average is seeing its largest ever 7 day spike: 49.1 cents per gallon, eclipsing the 49.0 cent weekly rise after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Many gas price records have been broken due to Russia’s war on Ukraine, which has pushed Western countries to impose severe sanctions on Russia, curbing Russian exports of crude oil to the global market,” GasBuddy said.

Last Saturday, the U.S. national average gas price surpassed $4 per gallon for the first time since 2008, and Friday’s spike alone came close to the record daily rise of 18 cents per gallon, increasing nearly 16 cents per gallon in one day. Diesel prices, however, did break records on Friday, as diesel soared to its largest daily gain ever: 22.2 cents per gallon, 6 cents higher than the previous record from 2013.

“Americans have never seen gasoline prices this high, nor have we seen the pace of increases so fast and furious. That combination makes this situation all the more remarkable and intense, with crippling sanctions on Russia curbing their flow of oil, leading to the massive spike in the price of all fuels: gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and more,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “It’s a dire situation and won’t improve any time soon. The high prices are likely to stick around for not days or weeks, like they did in 2008, but months. GasBuddy now expects the yearly national average to rise to its highest ever recorded.” 

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