Rhode Island’s average gas price is up 18 cents from last week, averaging $4.35 per gallon. Monday’s  price is 87 cents higher than a month ago, and $1.59 higher than March 14, 2021. Rhode Island’s average gas price is 3 cents higher than the national average.

After cresting above $123 per barrel shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the price of crude oil has gradually fallen below $110. If this trend holds, it may remove some of the extreme upward price pressure consumers have found at the pump, but not all.

“It bears reminding that the cost of oil accounts for about 50% of what drivers pay at the pump,” said Lloyd Albert, Senior Vice President of Public and Government Affairs for AAA Northeast. “This war is roiling an already tight global oil market and making it hard to determine if we are near a peak for pump prices, or if they keep grinding higher. It all depends on the direction of oil prices.”

AAA Northeast’s March 14 survey of fuel prices found the current national average to be 26 cents higher than last week, averaging $4.32 a gallon.