|
Gas was already set to rise this year, but geopolitical issues in the Middle East are already set to exacerbate increasing gas prices.
On Tuesday, Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, a small waterway that borders Iran, if other countries sanction his country's crude exports because of its nuclear ambitions. That could disrupt roughly a third of the world's tanker traffic and send oil prices skyrocketing, analysts say.
Iran holds the world's fourth-largest proven oil reserves and the world's second-largest natural gas reserves, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Next year may be another budget-breaking year at the pump, with prices once again topping $4 per gallon.
Since 2004, gas prices have risen an average of 93 cents a gallon between Christmas and the eventual peak the following year, and as much as $1.30 a gallon some years, according to Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst with GasBuddy.com. That could mean gas prices may come close to or higher than their levels last spring, when the Arab Spring and turmoil in Libya began.
__________________
|