Tim Harlow
Minneapolis Star Tribune
(TNS)
Another sharp rise in gas prices is expected this week as crude oil prices passed $100 a barrel over the weekend and military activity in the Middle East continues to cause supply disruption.
The average price for a gallon of gas in Minnesota was $3.25 on Monday morning, the same as on Sunday, according to AAA. That’s 42 cents higher than a week ago and 61 cents higher than one month ago, according to the organization’s daily survey of gas prices.
They likely will go up even more this week, predicts Patrick De Haan with the fuel tracking website Gasbuddy.com.
“With additional attacks across the Middle East over the weekend pushing oil above $100 per barrel for the first time in years, fuel markets are now rapidly recalibrating to the risk of prolonged disruption to global supply flows,” De Haan said. “As a result, gasoline prices in many states could climb another 20 to 50 cents per gallon this week.”
On Monday morning in Minnesota, gas was cheapest in Big Stone County at $2.57 cents a gallon with prices generally cheapest in the state’s northern counties. The most expensive appeared to be in Scott and Ramsey counties in the metro area at $3.35 a gallon, AAA reported.
Last week, the average in the Twin Cities was $2.86, according to Gasbuddy.com. On Monday, prices averaged $3.08 in Moorhead, $3.13 in Duluth, $3.26 in St. Cloud, $3.28 in Mankato and $3.30 in Rochester, according to AAA.
Gas prices are rising at one of the fastest rates in years with the conflict in the Middle East expanding and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, where 20% of the global supply of oil passes through. As a result, fuel markets are rapidly recalibrating to the risk of prolonged disruptions to global supply flows, De Haan said.
The national average for a gallon of gas on Monday stood at $3.45, up 54 cents from a month ago. Prices in many states could climb another 20 to 50 cents this week to between $3.75 to $3.95, De Haan said.
And every penny matters, De Haan said.
Americans spend roughly $3.7 million more per day for every one-cent increase in the national average price of gasoline. Drivers are spending about $187 million more per day than they were last weekend, De Haan said.
In the short term, there could be even more pain at the pump.
“I believe there is roughly an 80 percent chance the national average price of gasoline reaches $4 per gallon within the next month, or sooner,” De Haan said.
If that happens, it will mark the first time since August 2022 drivers have paid that much.
©2026 The Minnesota Star Tribune. Visit startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC
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Tags: AAA, crude oil, economy, gas prices, hormuz, investors, iran gas prices, iran war, israel, middle east, oil prices
