Gas prices are now the highest they have ever been at this time of year, averaging $4.15 a gallon — the first time the national average has topped $4 a gallon on Labor Day. And as Americans pay more at the pump, the higher energy prices resulting from the war with Iran have now cost U.S. households more than $100 billion, according to a cost tracker published online by The Watson School of International and Public Affairs at Brown University.
The total burden to U.S. consumers from higher gasoline and diesel prices since the conflict began at the end of February now stands at $101.1 billion, or about $423 per household due to extra gas costs and $349 per household from diesel costs that have reached a record high of $5.90 a gallon. In all, the cost tracker says U.S. households have seen a $772 hit, on average.
The added cost continues to climb as the conflict drags on and oil prices again approach $100 a barrel — and they could rise even faster if, as Goldman Sachs warned Sunday, global oil prices head toward $120 a barrel or higher.
Goldman Sachs analyst Daan Struyven warned in a research note Sunday that he expects Mideast shipping disruptions to continue into 2027. Goldman’s forecast now calls for the price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, to fall to $85 a barrel by December, $5 higher than the previous forecast. For 2027, the bank expects Brent to average $80 a barrel, up from a prior forecast of $75.
Struyven noted that crude oil prices won’t necessarily spike higher because oil producers are adapting to the disruption, China’s oil importation is sensitive to prices and the amount of crude oil stored in land inventories has declined only modestly, from 9.1 billion barrels before the war to 8.6 billion barrels today.
Still, the risks to the price forecast “remain significantly tilted to the upside on net, especially near-term,” Struyven and his team said. Brent crude prices could top $120 a barrel if average Gulf output remains more depressed, or if attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea intensify.