Are gas prices headed to an all-time high?

SALT LAKE CITY — After a week of mostly declining gas prices, the average cost of a gallon of regular jumped nearly 4 cents to an average $4.34 per gallon across Utah on Tuesday, and at least one industry watcher says considerably higher prices could be in the offing.

AAA data finds average gas costs in the state down about a penny over the past week but well above the $3.99 per gallon of a month ago and nearly a dollar more now than the $3.35 drivers were paying, on average, a year ago.

Utah is tracking well above the current national average of $4.01 per gallon of regular, which is up about 2 cents from a week ago and 87 cents since this time last year.

Both Brent crude and U.S. West Texas Intermediate oil futures pricing hit their highest level since July 31 on Monday, but showed some easing Tuesday as talks aimed at reopening the critical Strait of Hormuz continued.

In a Monday blog post , Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, noted that the national average gas price had dropped by nearly 11 cents over the previous week but warned that the longer a Middle East peace deal remains elusive, the worse it could get for U.S. household budgets.

"The wild ride continues," De Haan wrote. "Iran is pushing back against a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and oil prices edged modestly higher in Sunday night trading, signaling that the recent relief may not last. With the strait remaining closed, upward pressure on fuel prices could return quickly, and if things don't go well, the national average could climb to its highest level ever recorded this late in the calendar year."

Gas hikes drive broader price increases

High fuel prices have helped drive persistent U.S. inflation and consumer gas prices are once again on the rise just ahead of the Labor Department's July inflation report, due out Wednesday. The last Consumer Price Index summary pegged U.S. inflation at 3.5% in June.

Persistent cost increases for consumer goods and services are piling pressure on household budgets and are a particular burden for those in lower income brackets.

Recent polling by the Deseret News, in partnership with the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics, found rising financial concerns among Beehive State residents.

The survey conducted in late June found an overwhelming majority of respondents, 84%, registering some level of concern about the direction of the economy, with 41% saying they were very concerned and 43% somewhat concerned about where the economy is headed. On the other side of the sentiment question, 12% of respondents said they were not very concerned, and 2% said they were not at all concerned about where the economy is headed.

The latest polling on economic concerns mirrors state and national data gathered by the Deseret News/Hinckley Institute in May, where 80% of Utahns and 79% of Americans reported some level of concern about the economic fallout from the Iran war.

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