The Las Vegas Valley has seen gasoline prices jump 14 cents in the past week as multiple conflicts overseas rage on, with the potential to surpass $5 a gallon not out of the question.
The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas in Southern Nevada was $4.72 on Friday, up from the $4.58 last week, according to AAA. Friday’s price was a 3-cent increase from Thursday and is flat compared with a month ago.
Motorists are paying a dollar more per gallon of gas compared with the same date in 2025, when the average price was at $3.72, AAA data shows.
The price fluctuations are tied to a multitude of geopolitical factors overseas, according to Patrick De Haan, lead petroleum analyst with GasBuddy.
“Oil prices are down today, but they’re still up quite a bit from last week,” De Haan said Friday. “Today’s drop has to do with Pakistan trying to get the U.S. and Iran back to the same table.”
De Haan said the challenges involve more than the U.S. and Iran, however.
“The Houthis attacking in the Red Sea is problematic because it interrupts the flow of Russian crude oil. In addition, Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil refineries are also pretty problematic,” he said. “Russia has curbed the export of diesel — one out of every nine gallons produced globally of diesel comes from Russia. So that’s even more critical to the price of diesel.”
Prices for Brent crude oil hit a six-week high on Thursday at $100 per barrel, before seeing a decrease Friday, closing at $96.51. But the recent surge signals a further increase in retail prices is looming.
De Haan said all of the issues are combining to drive up fuel prices. Every state is reporting price increases, and the national average for a gallon of unleaded is 11 cents higher than the same day last week, De Haan said.
If the compounding issues persist overseas, gas prices will continue to rise, with a $5 per gallon average in Southern Nevada not out of the realm of possibility.
“If it continues for a few more weeks, absolutely (prices could hit $5),” De Haan said. “You (Las Vegas) were last above $5 in early June, and then you slipped back below that on about June 7th. So, it’s been a month and a half since you last saw $5, but your peak was about $5.29 back on May 22nd. … I don’t think you’ll get there based on where we are at this moment, but the longer these situations go unaddressed, the more of a concern.”
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.
