(LEX 18) — At the pump, you may see the prices rising even higher this week.
"I've noticed that throughout Lexington it could be a 30 to 40 cent difference in price change, just depending on what side of town you're on,” said Richmond resident, Buddy Blades.
According to AAA, the national average gas price rose slightly to $2.59 per gallon and it's expected to go up more.
Over the weekend, there were drone attacks on two major oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, including the world's largest facility, Abqaiq. These attacks took 5.7 million crude oil barrels per day off the market, accounting for about 6 percent of the world's supply.
This incident led to a local impact.
"I feel sorry for the people who have to drive 35 or 40 miles to work every day who has a gas guzzling car. It really makes a difference,” said Lexington resident Roy Griggs.
President Donald Trump said he's authorized the release of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, if needed. Other Saudi-oil-consuming countries also have emergency reserves to help back-fill the global supply.
"I'm not surprised by it. It's unfortunate what happened over there, but it's to be expected,” said Cincinnati resident Tim Teepe. “We'll have to figure out and keep moving on."
As for when the trend of increasing prices would end, that could depend on how quickly the damaged oil facilities are repaired. There's no word yet on how long that could take.
