Camila Dominovsky

Last year, gasoline prices were remarkably stable, a straight line more or less.

For most of this month, they've also been a straight line, almost straight up.

Prices vary around the country, most expensive on the West Coast and least expensive in the middle of the continent.

But they're rising everywhere.

Crude oil is driving prices up as the war in Iran disrupts global oil trade.

A switch to summer gasoline and the typical seasonal rise in demand aren't helping.

The average cost of public charging electric vehicles is 41 cents a kilowatt hour, AAA reports, up slightly two cents from a month ago.

Camila Dominovsky, NPR News.

Crude oil prices have been volatile over the last couple of weeks, rising and falling.

But prices at the pump have only gone in one direction, up.

Diesel prices are up even more sharply, rising well over a dollar from before the Iran war began.

Higher prices put pressure on households directly when they buy gasoline and indirectly as higher diesel costs push up costs for farming, construction, trucking, and all forms of shipping.

Meanwhile, the switch to summer gasoline, which cuts down on pollution and warm weather, could also help push prices higher in the coming weeks.

Camila Dominovsky, NPR News.

Iran itself still produces and exports oil despite U.S.

sanctions.

But more significantly, Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz, and about a fifth of global oil production travels through that choke point.

A blockade would push prices up immediately and dramatically.

And if the conflict expands, there's the risk of attacks on oil infrastructure across the Gulf, which would also cause prices to spike and be hard to reverse.

But those are all risks, not certainties.