Gas Prices Expected To Drop After Thanksgiving

RIVERSIDE (CBSLA) — College student Raymond Sha will drive about 400 miles from southern California to the San Francisco Bay Area to be with his family on Thanksgiving — during a time when gas prices are at an all-time high.

"I just filled up my tank last week and it was around 70 dollars," said Sha. "So it's quite a bit." 

AAA said over 48 million Americans will drive for Thanksgiving, almost 4 million more than last year when the pandemic kept many people home. Sha and the other tens of millions of drivers will have to endure the much higher gas prices, which are about 60% more than last year.

Experts like Patrick De Haan, from Gas Buddy, said that as the economy reopened this year so did the need for fuel, however, the oil production has yet to catch up. 

"Oil supply has lagged far behind pushing up the price of oil to some of the highest levels in seven years," said De Haan. 

De Haan predicts the national average will stay at $3.35 cents during the Thanksgiving weekend but believes the prices will begin to decrease in the following weeks. 

"I would expect the downward trend that's just starting to gain momentum will last into early potentially in mid-December," he said. "It could run longer than that. Just depending on how supply and demand, continue to fluctuate." 

In the meantime, Sha hopes to find some fellow students to carpool home with to split the cost. 

"I'm looking to carpool with them and split the gas prices with them, so it's cheaper," he said.