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LSU expert discusses future of gas prices in wake of Strait of Hormuz dispute

3 hours 35 minutes 30 seconds ago Friday, April 17 2026 Apr 17, 2026 April 17, 2026 9:25 PM April 17, 2026 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE - For a little over a month, many people say they've noticed a spike in gas prices.

"Kind of outrageous, like at this point I might as well walk everywhere I go cause I spend more money trying to get from point A to point B. More money than I ever spent on gas," Baton Rouge resident Anthony said.

Some people say they're paying nearly double what they paid before to fill their tank.

"Making it hard on your daily people to make it to work, make it to the kids' school, and things like that, so it affects a lot of people," Baton Rouge resident David Green said.

Executive Director of the LSU Center for Energy Studies, Greg Upton, says that through the Strait of Hormuz, 20% of the global oil supply moves into the global market. He says that with the Strait being closed for over a month, ships were not able to exit the area, taking a lot of the global oil supply off the market.

"We were about $65 a barrel before the conflict began to escalate, and it peaked, of course, went over $100 a barrel pretty consistently for some time there," Upton said.

Iranian officials announced the Strait of Hormuz reopened on Friday.

"At least temporarily, of course, we'll see what happens in the coming days and weeks. The price of oil this week has dropped from about $100 a barrel, where it was at the beginning of the week, to about $85 of what we are seeing right now," Upton said.

Upton says if the decrease continues, we may soon see a drop in prices at the pump.

"Right now in Louisiana, the price of gasoline is a little over $3.70 a gallon on average. If this price decrease sustains, we can see it go down to maybe $3.40, $3.35, something like that, over the next few weeks," Upton said.

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