Is Russian revolt driving up Texas gas prices? What you should know for your summer travel

Dalia Faheid
·2 min read

A record-breaking number of Texans, 3.8 million, are expected to travel this July 4 weekend, according to a new report from AAA Texas.

That’s the highest number on record for the Independence Day holiday. It’s a 5% increase from last year and a 7% increase from the previous record in 2019. Of those travelers, the vast majority, or 3.2 million are traveling by car.

Meanwhile, gas prices have started rising in the last week. Global oil prices increased Monday, making U.S. crude nearly $70 a barrel, as markets reacted to the threat to President Vladimir Putin’s leadership that could disrupt supplies in the upcoming months.

“It’s been another generally sideways week for the national average, which has remained stuck in the $3.50-$3.60 per gallon range since late April with fundamentals generally holding pretty stable, even though oil prices have bounced around between $65-$80 in the same timeframe,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, in a news release.

Average gas prices in Fort Worth have gone up by 19.1 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $3.29 a gallon Monday, according to GasBuddy. Fort Worth prices are 9.8 cents higher than a month ago, but still 132.7 cents lower than a year ago. Dallas is at $3.29/g, up 17.5 cents from last week’s $3.12/g. Texas is at $3.22, up from $3.12 a week ago.

“While some states saw big increases from last week, I expect those states to see a calmer week ahead. Other states saw prices fall, and some like Arizona fell significantly as some of the kinks in supply have improved there over the last few weeks,” De Haan says. “Ultimately, we could see the national average nudge a bit lower in the week ahead, should oil prices fail to rally. But, with developments including the Wagner group destabilizing and testing Russia, there can always be last minute shifts that impact prices, which we continue to watch for and hope the market remains calm.”

The cheapest station in Fort Worth was at $2.94 Sunday while the most expensive was $3.59, per GasBuddy. The lowest price in Texas Sunday was $2.59 while the highest was $4.17.

Here’s what Fort Worth gas prices have looked like on June 26 in the past five years, according to GasBuddy:

  • 2022: $4.62/g

  • 2021: $2.81/g

  • 2020: $1.90/g

  • 2019: $2.43/g

  • 2018: $2.61/g