Gas Prices Surge In VA As Oil Prices Rise; Up 17 Cents From Last Week

VIRGINIA — Virginia's gas prices are surging again as the summer driving season approaches and as crude oil prices climb on the global market.

On Monday, gas averaged $4.222 a gallon in Virginia, according to the American Automobile Association, or AAA. Prices are up 16.9 cents from last week, 22.3 cents from a month ago and $1.46 from this time last year.

The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is up 19.6 cents from a month ago and $1.36 per gallon higher than a year ago, according to GasBuddy.

U.S. petroleum inventories saw another weekly decline last week as the nation nears the start of summer driving season, GasBuddy said in a blog post Monday.

The cost of crude oil is hovering around $110 a barrel. Crude prices rose last week after the European Union announced a proposal to ban Russian oil imports within six months, while refined product imports would be prohibited by the end of 2022.

“With the cost of oil accounting for more than half of the pump price, more expensive oil means more expensive gasoline,” AAA spokesman Andrew Gross said in a statement. “These prices are creeping closer to those record high levels of early March.”

In Northern Virginia, gas averaged $4.360 a gallon on Monday, compared to $4.200 a week ago, $4.087 a month ago and $2.836 at this time a year ago, according to AAA.

Nationwide, Virginia's gas prices rank as the 27th least expensive, according to GasBuddy.

For the third consecutive week, the nation's average gas price has risen, climbing 13.6 cents from a week ago to $4.31 per gallon on Monday, according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 11 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country.