The 5 countries with the cheapest gasoline in America 0:53
(CNN) --
Police in the United States and Canada are warning drivers to take extra steps to pre-preview (opens in a new tab) protect their vehicles from potential gasoline theft as fuel prices rise at a rate that hadn't seen each other in over a decade.
Sanctions against oil producer Russia for its invasion of Ukraine have pushed up fuel prices already inflated by reduced production due to the covid-19 pandemic.
It means that Americans returning to commuting and travel face rising costs at the gas pump on top of two years of financial strain.
Why can't the record price of gasoline be solved by extracting more oil in the United States?
Some police departments recommend extra caution as the price of a tank of gas rises.
In Washington State, the Everett Police Department and the Hoquiam Police Department suggest that drivers take precautionary measures, such as purchasing a locked gas cap and parking in a visible, well-lit area.
"We often discover these thefts later when the owner goes to the gas station to fill up and finds all the fuel lying under the vehicle from the fill cut line," Hoquiam Police Chief Jeff Myers said in a statement. Facebook post.
Also on Facebook, the Renton Police Department in Washington advised drivers to avoid parking in public places for "extended periods of time" and position vehicles so the fuel door can be seen from a main road.
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"We understand that a motivated thief cannot be deterred from stealing, no matter how hard we try to protect our valuables," Renton police said.
"But the goal is to introduce dissuasive measures that make them feel uncomfortable or present inconveniences that encourage them to leave the area."
The Atlanta Police Department said they arrested a man earlier this month who was "drilling into fuel tanks and stealing gasoline."
"During these crimes, the suspect involved apparently used a tool to drill a hole in the gas tanks of the victims' vehicles, resulting in hundreds or thousands of dollars in additional costs to the victim for the repair of the gas tanks. gasoline," the department said in a news release.
And in Michigan, one company said it now requires drivers to prepay for gas or pay with a credit card at the pump.
"Increasing fuel costs have dramatically increased the number of runaways we're experiencing," said Britton Gas and Grocery.
"We have tried to prevent this for many years, but we can no longer cover the costs of the gasoline theft."
In British Columbia, Canada, authorities have received complaints about pickup trucks having their gas tanks punctured and fuel stolen in the past two weeks.
"The thieves don't just suck gas out of the tank, they drill a hole in the tank leading to an expensive repair," said Elk Valley Canadian Mounted Police Officer Debra A. Katerenchuk.
"Increasing gas prices is one thing, but the cost of replacing the gas tank is much more."
In the United States, the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline is currently $4.31, up from $3.72 a week ago, according to AAA.
record prices
On Monday, the price of regular gasoline in the US hit $4.14, breaking the previous record of $4.11 a gallon that had stood since 2008, according to AAA.
A year earlier, drivers paid an average of $2.77.
The war in Ukraine is having an impact.
On Tuesday, the US announced a ban on all energy imports from Russia, one of the world's largest oil exporters.
The United Kingdom also said it would phase out oil imports from Russia by the end of the year, and the European Union announced a plan to achieve energy independence from Russia by 2030.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday that there was "certainly" an economic effect on the US from the sanctions.
"It's already pushed up world oil prices. We're seeing it ourselves in prices at the pump," Yellen said.
Conflicts abroad have pushed up prices at gas stations before, most notably in the 1970s, when tensions in the Middle East led to demand outstripping supply.
Americans then lined up for hours at gas stations, protested and some even stole gas as prices soared.
But there have been other drivers behind the latest price increase.
Oil production fell during the pandemic as travel and commuting curtailed, lowering demand.
Production still lags behind pre-pandemic levels, despite a reported 25% increase in passenger vehicle use since the start of the year.
Why is the price of gasoline in the US rising to record levels and why will it stay that way for a long time?
About a third of the 24-cent-per-gallon increase in the price of regular gasoline occurred in the last five days of the month, after the Russian invasion, according to data compiled for AAA by the Oil Price Information Service.
Prices have soared since then, which will be reflected in March's inflation figures.
According to data released this week, the consumer price index rose 0.8% in February, with a 6.6% rise in gasoline prices contributing nearly a third of the month's overall rise in inflation. .
In the last year, they have risen 38%.
"The increase in gasoline prices is particularly painful for low-income consumers. On the one hand, gasoline represents a larger part of their total spending. On the other hand, low-income consumers tend to work in sectors where the remote work is not an option, so its driving demand is not at all elastic to gas prices," Anna Zhou, an economist at Bank of America, told CNN.
Some hope for lower prices emerged on Wednesday, when the UAE's ambassador to Washington, Yousef Al Otaiba, told CNN that the country wants to increase oil production and would encourage the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. (OPEC) to increase supply.
His comments caused the price of US crude and Brent, the global benchmark, to mark their steepest one-day drop in nearly two years.
If OPEC agrees to turn on the taps, it could help fill the global supply gap.
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