Gas Prices Soar On LI To $3.80 On Average Per Gallon: AAA

LONG ISLAND, NY — While the fighting rages on in Ukraine, and families flee their homeland, Long Islanders are starting to notice the impact at the pump.

AAA Northeast's Robert Sinclair, a guest on Tuesday's Patch AM, said the gas prices were already heading in the wrong direction.

"Just the rumor of the threat of Russia invading Ukraine led to prices going up," Sinclair said.

Those prices have kept rising since the official war started last week. However, Sinclair said crude oil fell to start the invasion.

With gas at retail locations soaring, the AAA spokesperson believes it is something called Inventory Protection, where gasoline sitting in tanks underground "suddenly becomes more valuable," he said.

The average price for gas on Long Island is $3.80 per gallon, a jump of eight cents in the last week and a 32-cent spike in a month.

Nationally, filling up the tank will cost you $3.61 a gallon, an eight-cent bounce in the past week, AAA said.

The highest prices at the pump are in California, where it's a whopping $4.83 per gallon.

While there have been predictions of gas prices in the U.S. topping $7 this year, Sinclair doesn't expect it to get that bad.

"We don't know how high it'll get. I don't think six or seven dollars a gallon is going to happen," Sinclair said. "But certainly higher prices are in the offing."