CAMBRIDGE, MASS. (WHDH) - The Russian invasion of Ukraine is causing gas prices to soar in Massachusetts and across the country.
On average, gas prices are floating around $3.73 a gallon as of Thursday night.
“That’s up 20 cents a gallon in just the last week,” said Jay Zagorsky who is a senior lecturer at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. “Because of the war we’ve seen a 20-cent increase.”
Zagorsky said that before the war, crude oil was going for $92 a barrel. Now, it is selling for more than $110 a barrel.
“Why is the price of oil jumping? Because Russia is a relatively large oil exporter and many of those oil exports either go through the Ukraine or through the Baltic Sea which borders the Ukraine,” he said. “So, in a war zone, oil doesn’t flow.”
Drivers thousands of miles away can feel the effects.
“It is pretty high, yes,” said Pedro Calmell who was filling up his tank at a Shell station in Cambridge. “My tank is absolutely empty so it may be a little more right now.”
The jump in oil prices is not just impacting prices at the pump.
“The Boston area actually imports quite a bit of oil from Russia,” Zagorsky said. “Last year in 2021, we imported over $100 million worth of petroleum products and 20 percent of that was jet fuel. So not only are people going to be feeling pressure at the pump, if you’re thinking of flying, now is the time to lock in prices.”
The Boston University lecturer explained that the supply chain is based on the idea that transactions can be made peacefully
“The problem is that assumption si that it doesn’t work in wartime,” he said. “When supply chains are cut off when transports are being bombed when highways and bridges are shut down. So, unfortunately, inflation will go up a little while longer.”
Inflation has already hit 7.5 percent.
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