National gas price average hits new record high at $4.45 per gallon
The national average gas price hit a record high, and is expected to continue rising as the energy supply crunch in the U.S. rages on.
The average price for a gallon of gas hit $4.45 Saturday, according to AAA Gas Prices. Some states with higher-than-average prices include California at $5.92 a gallon, and Hawaii at $5.32.
Diesel also hit its own highest recorded cost at $5.56.
The national average retail price for a gallon of regular gasoline reached $4.40. However, Andy Lipow, the president of Lipow Oil Associates, estimated that the national average could soon surge as high as $4.50 per gallon.
Before Russia was hit with sanctions for invading Ukraine, threatening the already tight global oil market, the national average was at $3.53, according to Lipow.
The Biden administration canceled one of the most high-profile oil and gas lease sales pending before the Department of the Interior, as Americans face record-high prices at the pump, according to AAA.
Within his first week in office, President Biden signed an executive order temporarily suspending new oil and gas leases on federal lands. The administration resumed the new leasing last month following court challenges against the ban. The administration is appealing a ruling in which Judge James Cain, a Trump appointee, struck down the ban.