Wright: Gas prices dropping to less than $3 'might not happen until next year'

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday that gas prices may not drop to less than $3 until next year, as energy prices spike amid Iran’s restrictions on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

“I don’t know. That could happen later this year. That might not happen until next year,” Wright told host Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union,” when the latter asked whether he thinks it would be “realistic” for Americans to expect gas prices to dip to less than $3 per gallon.

“But prices have likely peaked and they will start going down,” the secretary added. “Certainly, with a resolution of this conflict, you will see prices go down. Prices across the board on energy prices will go down.”

The global oil industry has been rocked by Iran’s restrictions on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, with gas prices in the U.S. rising to more than $4 for the first time since 2022 — after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The average price of a gallon of regular gas is more than $4.04 as of Sunday, more than 8 cents less than a week ago but more than $0.89 higher than a year ago, according to AAA. The service also reported in December that gas prices had fallen below $3 for the first time since May 2021, according to CNN.

The strait has remained closed, despite Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi saying Friday that ships could pass through for the duration of the ceasefire. A spokesperson for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Saturday cited the ongoing U.S. naval blockade in announcing that the corps was resuming “strict” control over the waterway. 

While gas prices remain elevated amid the war, Wright was confident that they would eventually return to preconflict levels. 

“Under $3 a gallon is pretty tremendous in an inflation-adjusted terms,” he told Tapper. “We had that in the Trump administration, but we hadn’t seen that in inflation-adjusted terms for quite a long time. We will get back there, for sure.”