Strait of Hormuz oil traffic plunges as Iran keeps waterway shut
The average U.S. price of regular gasoline hit $4.14 a gallon heading into the Labor Day weekend, the highest level recorded for the holiday, according to the AAA motor club. The figure is nearly a dollar higher than a year earlier and well above the prior Labor Day record of $3.82 from 2012.
For Nicole Collins, a Philadelphia resident planning to drive to South Carolina to visit friends, the price at the pump has reshaped the summer’s travel. Outside a gas station in Claymont, Delaware, where regular gas was selling for $4.199 a gallon, Collins said her family had spent most of the summer close to home rather than taking their typical weekend trips.
“Gas is pretty high right now,” Collins said. “It doesn’t help that we also have a baby, so we also have to pay for that.”
Prices shot up after the U.S. and Israel struck Iran in February and have not settled since, the Associated Press reported. Crude oil traffic through the key Strait of Hormuz has plunged as Iran has refused to reopen the waterway.