Pain at pump persists as Nevada sees record high
Nevada gasoline prices set a record high Wednesday, reaching an average cost of $5.34 per gallon— three cents higher than the week prior.
Nevada remains 67 cents above the $4.67 national average price for gas. California, at an average $6.19 per gallon, continues to have the highest gasoline prices since the beginning of the gasoline spike. Nevada’s average gasoline price is third highest in the nation, just 10 cents lower than Hawaii’s second highest average price at $5.44 per gallon.
Prices across the Silver State differ with Clark County sitting at an average of about $5.27 per gallon. Washoe County holds the distinction of highest gasoline prices in the state with an average price of $5.82.
The high prices have taken their toll on locals and tourists alike.
Las Vegas resident Speedy King said the skyrocketing costs have caused him to make some changes.
“I walk to work now. I got a nice car too … it’s for sale, too,” King said, noting he also has to make trips “to pick my daughter up from day care and stuff like that.”
Something’s got to change to bring the cost down, King said Wednesday. “We need to try to get these prices back to a minimum where people can survive.”
Over Memorial Day weekend, demand for gasoline remained high as Nevada saw prices at $5.30, one of the highest in the nation.
“Memorial Day weekend was very busy and predicted to be the busiest travel day since 2019,” said John Treanor, spokesperson for AAA Nevada. “Memorial Day weekend is normally a precursor for what happens during the summer.”
People should buckle in for an expensive summer when it comes to their gas tank — mostly caused by a lack of refining capacity, according to Patrick De Haan, head petroleum analyst at GasBuddy.com.
With oil prices reaching $115 per barrel, Nevada will likely continue to see high prices at the pump due to a lack of direct access to oil and refining capacity, De Haan said.
“Over the last three years we have lost about a million barrels a day in refining capacity,” he said. “We’re still consuming about 8.8 million barrels of gasoline every day.”
Nevada is largely tied to Southern California refineries, and if any issues arise, $6 a gallon is “one of the cards in the deck,” according to De Haan.
Treanor said the Silver State doesn’t have a pipeline. “We get a lot of oil from California where environmental refinement of oil is more expensive,” he said.
Gasoline prices have continued to rise nationally since early March when the United States banned Russian oil imports due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to Treanor.
It’s difficult to predict where gasoline prices will go from here while the war in Europe continues to rage on and demand for gasoline remains high.
“Demand for fuel will remain high because of Russia,” Treanor said. “I wish we knew when the break would come. We just don’t.”
Traveling through Las Vegas while on a cross-country family trip to national parks, Kenny Nelson, a resident of Phoenix, Arizona, said he is “biting the bullet” when it comes to gasoline prices during the vacation.
“We’re working around it. We don’t want to shortchange the kids,” he said.
Review-Journal reporter Emerson Drewes can be reached at edrewes@reviewjournal.com or via Twitter @EmersonDrewes. Review-Journal photographer Kevin Cannon contributed to this report.
