Gas prices hit record highs, draining wallets
(10 Jun 2022) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4383610 ASSOCIATED PRESS Oakland, California - 9 June 2022 1. Car drives at 76 gas station HEADLINE: Gas prices hit record highs, draining wallets 2. Gas price billboard at 76 station 3. Quentin McZeal filling up gas tank at 76 station ANNOTATION: The average price Americans pay for gas hit $4.99 per gallon Friday, according to AAA. In California, it reached $6.42 per gallon. 5. SOUNDBITE (English) Quentin McZeal, Oakland resident: "It's a lot of other things I can't do because I have to pay for gas. You know what I'm saying? Less food, less playtime because I got to get gas, I got to go to work, right?" 6. Leo Theus getting gas at 76 station 7. SOUNDBITE (English) Leo Theus, Hayward resident: ++PARTIALLY COVERED++ "Well, you got to think about gas now. You know, you got to decide, is it really worth it to go out there or not? You need the extra money like you want to go to the club or go to the bar or something. You got to spend money just to have fun, but then on that gas as well. So, you know, you got to think about. That's another factor." 8. Prices at the pump 9. SOUNDBITE (English) Paula Covian, Oakland resident: "Well, I usually put a full tank. Probably like $60 now. Like $100. Depends where I go." 10. Car drives at Shell gas station 11. SOUNDBITE (English) Berenice Chico, Oakland resident: "Yeah. We don't want to go too far. Like, we don't want to use the car too much because it's pointless to be wasting gas right now." 12. Gas price sign at Shell station ASSOCIATED PRESS Chicago - 9 June 2022 13. SOUNDBITE (English) Patrick De Haan, petroleum analyst, Gas Buddy: ++PARTIALLY COVERED++ "And so it's just a matter of falling supply and rising demand, and that's pushed up the national average significantly. And it looks like we continue to see supplies declining." ASSOCIATED PRESS Oakland, California - 9 June 2022 14. Valero gas station next to BART train rail 15. Gas price billboard at Valero station 16. Nozzle pulled out of gas tank ASSOCIATED PRESS Chicago - 9 June 2022 20. SOUNDBITE (English) Patrick De Haan, petroleum analyst, Gas Buddy: ++COVERED++ "For all the complaints that there are out there about gas prices hitting records. Few Americans seem to be cutting back much." STORYLINE: The average price that Americans pay for gasoline is now hovering around $5 a gallon, another drain on the wallets of consumers who are paying more for many other essentials too. AAA said the nationwide average for regular on Friday was $4.99 a gallon, up a quarter in just the last week and $1.90 more than drivers were paying a year ago. GasBuddy, a service that helps drivers find deals on gas, said the average surpassed $5 for the first time ever. Pump prices have been rising steadily for months, shooting past the $4 mark in early March. They track the cost of crude oil, which was rising even before Russia's invasion of Ukraine drove oil even higher. Fears of short supplies are being compounded by demand, which usually picks up around Memorial Day at the end of May — the unofficial start of summer and vacation trips in the U.S. California has the highest average price, at $6.40 a gallon, according to AAA. Several other Western states and Illinois are higher than $5.50. The lowest average is in Georgia, at $4.41. Quentin McZeal of Oakland, California, said it used to cost him $100 to fill up his tank and now it's more like $140-$160. The prices have forced him to change his behavior and make different choices, like turning down people who ask for rides unless they're willing to kick in for gas. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
