Seattle's pain at the pump isn't over
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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Stock: Getty Images
Seattle gas prices are closing in on $6 a gallon.
Why it matters: The extreme price spikes analysts feared this spring — a statewide average above $7 and $10 gas at Seattle's priciest stations — haven't materialized, though the threat hasn't disappeared.
The latest: Seattle will "almost definitely" reach a $6 average if the latest surge in oil prices holds through the week, Ryan Cummings, an economist at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, tells Axios.
- But Cummings now thinks the prices he warned about this spring are unlikely before year's end.
- Demand has fallen more sharply than analysts expected as prices rose, Cummings says, while China's massive prewar oil stockpile has reduced its need to compete for scarce barrels.
Yes, but: Cummings cautioned that further disruptions could send prices higher.
- As long as the war continues, the worst-case scenario "is still on the table," he says, but now appears "less likely" than it did at the beginning of the conflict.
By the numbers: In the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett area, regular gas averaged $5.71 a gallon Monday — up 35 cents from a month ago and nearly 90 cents from a year ago, per AAA.
- That's about $1.39 above the national average and 15 cents above the state average.
- The climb accelerated in recent weeks, with federal data showing Seattle regular jumped from $5.26 on Aug. 10 to $5.60 by Sept. 7.
What they're saying: Gas prices, on average, have never been this high this late in the year, said Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy's head of petroleum analysis.
Where to fill up: As of Monday, the GasBuddy app showed some of the Seattle area's cheapest regular gas at Arco on Roosevelt Way ($5.03), Space Age on 35th Ave SW ($5.18), Costco on Fourth Ave. S ($5.29) and QFC on NE 145th St ($5.29)
The bottom line: $10 gas may be less likely, but the pain at the pump is still real.