After reaching record high levels last month, drivers have welcomed a recent dip in gas prices.
But the reprieve may not last, with energy analysts warning that gas prices could soar again in October ahead of November's midterm elections.
The average price for regular gasoline nationwide was $4.532 on Sunday—down from a record of $5.014 a month ago, according to the American Automobile Association. That is still $1.365 higher than a year ago.
President Joe Biden has blamed Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine for skyrocketing gas prices.
The price of crude oil is a major factor in the price Americans pay at the pump. The falling price of crude oil (which was about $101 a barrel on Sunday) and weakening demand have driven the cost of gas down.
Patrick de Haan, head of petroleum analysis at Gas Buddy, tweeted on Saturday that gas prices have been declining for 32 straight days and the price of a gallon of regular gas could fall under $4 by the middle of August.
But oil prices are almost certain to spike to due to a European Union decision to ban nearly all oil from Russia, which will take hold in early December.
Some analysts have predicted that prices could go up as soon as October ahead of those sanctions, according to The Washington Post.
Earlier this month, J. P. Morgan analysts warned that oil prices could more than triple if Russia were to retaliate to the stricter sanctions by cutting its daily oil production by millions of barrels a day.
The analysts say Russia's economy could withstand a cut in oil production of 5 million barrels per day, Bloomberg reported. A cut of 3 million barrels in daily supply would push London crude prices to $190 a barrel, the analysts said, but the "worst-case scenario" of 5 million could see the cost of oil spiking to $380 a barrel.
"If you were to ask me where could oil prices go, I would say pick a number," Michael Tran, managing director for global energy strategy at RBC Capital, told The Washington Post.
Ed Hirs, Eenergy Fellow at the University of Houston Fellow, recently predicted that the national average price for a gallon of gas could hit a new record in early September.
"I'm thinking that we're going to see $6 gas by Labor Day," he told WFAA.
Earlier this week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said a price cap on Russian oil would reduce Russian President Vladimir Putin's ability to continue the war in Ukraine and lower global oil prices.
Yellen, who spoke ahead of a Group of 20 meeting in Bali, said it would be "one of our most powerful tools to address the pain that Americans and families across the world are feeling at the gas pump and the grocery store right now."
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