Area gas prices rise above $4 per gallon

AREA — Regular fuel prices climbed sharply this week, with prices topping $4 per gallon in some areas.
In Harlan, one convenience store listed regular gasoline at $3.77 per gallon Monday before raising the price to $4.29 by Tuesday morning.
Across Iowa, AAA reported Monday averages of $3.94 per gallon for regular gasoline and $5.29 for diesel fuel. Data from GasBuddy, which tracks prices at more than 150,000 stations, showed the  average national cost of gasoline rose 38.2 cents per gallon over the past week to $4.42. That is $1.31 higher than prices at the same time last year.
The increases come as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed amid ongoing conflict involving Iran. National fuel prices have now reached their highest levels since July 2022, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led to sanctions on Russian oil exports. Prices previously peaked at $5.02 per gallon nation-wide in June 2022.
In response to mounting market pressures, the U.S. Department of Energy released 17.5 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve between late March and early April, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. 
The latest release, totaling 7.1 million barrels during the week of April 24, marked the largest weekly drawdown since October 2022.
March 11, President Trump authorized the release of up to 172 million barrels from the nation’s 397.9 million-barrel reserve over an estimated 120-day period. The action is part of a broader coordinated effort by the 32 member nations of the International Energy Agency to make 400 million barrels available to global markets. 
According to a March 11 statement from the agency, IEA member countries collectively hold about 1.2 billion barrels in reserve.