PLEASANT RIDGE, Mich. – Gas prices here in Michigan have gone from worse to terrible in just a matter of days. The state-wide average is $4.93 a gallon. That’s almost 40 cents more than just last week, and it gets even worse from there.
Seen in the video player above is a video sent to Local 4 from Mackinaw City with gas prices of $5.19 for a gallon of regular, and prices aren’t expected to stop rising.
“I have my mom in the nursing home, and I can’t go see her like I want to, and it hurts,” said Sherry Sherman.
Sherman is on a fixed income, and she just paid $100 to fill up her tank.
“I’ve never seen this in my life,” Sherman said. “It’s terrible, absolutely terrible.”
Oil analysts predict the pain at the pump is going to get worse throughout the summer.
“In July and August, almost anything goes,” said Chief Oil Analyst Denton Cinquegrana.
Cinquegrana says several factors are at play.
“What’s going to break this is either demand falls apart, and we drive less, but also, if the economy falls apart, and that’s obviously bad news, that means we have a recession,” Cinquegrana said.
While the U.S. only buys a fraction of oil from Russia, analysts say the Russian invasion of Ukraine impacted global commodity markets.
“That’s just one piece of the 500-piece jigsaw puzzle that we’re all trying to put together right now,” Cinquegrana said.
Meanwhile, China is ending COVID lockdowns, increasing global demand as more commuters hit the road.
“Refineries have all the motivation in the world to run,” Cinquegrana said. “It’s just that we’re using more than we were. And we’ve seen, you know, about a million and a half barrels a day of refining capacity shut down over the last couple of years. And that’s not easy to bring back either.”
The high fuel price is leaving families with tough decisions as the summer driving season begins.
“You got to think something is going to break right, and at some point does the consumer say enough’s enough,” Cinquegrana said. “We’re not going to go to the movies, or we’re not going to do this. We’re not going to do that. We’re canceling that road trip.”
“How do people do it,” Sherman said. “How do they afford to go to work and then put food on your table. You’re working to buy gas.”
