this morning that pain you are likely feeling at the pump may feel like it s getting worse by the day. gas prices are up, they re now at seven-year highs. joining us is pete muntean live from a gas station in alexandria, virginia. tell us what s behind this right now. what s behind the supply crunch? reporter: well, jim, you know, this is really going to sting for a lot of folks who got used to low prices. gas was about $1.77 a gallon during the depths of the pandemic, $3.15 for a gallon of regular in virginia, which is actually lower than the national average now, which just hit $3.28 a gallon. up eight cents in the last week. and analysts say it s rally the price of crude that is driving this, which just hit $80 a barrel for the first time in seven years. analysts anticipate it will hit $85 or $90 a barrel by the end of this year.
and aaa says we re really only starting to see the beginning of these prices spiking. what people should know is this is not a shortage. people think uh-oh, prices are going up, there must be a shortage. we have plenty of supply and there s plenty of oil. it s just that the price of that oil is going up. reporter: what s so interesting is this is typically the time of year when prices for gas are actually pretty low, between labor day and thanksgiving, when the demand for driving drops. it was $2.19 on average this time last year. maybe a bit of an apples and oranges comparison, but it underscores this is going to feel a lot worse for folks who got used to those low prices. jim and erica? no question. quite a difference in a short period of time. money pete muntean, thanks very. peggy green is a senior fellow at harvard s kennedy school. on gas prices, we just heard from aaa, it s not about