National average gas hits record $4.10 for the date as crude holds near $80 on Hormuz jitters
The national average for regular is $4.10 a gallon, up 3 cents on the week and the highest AAA has ever logged for this date. August is running at $4.06 so far, above the $3.97 that August 2022 posted. Demand is down, which is normal for late summer, so this is a crude story, not a pump-demand story.
Doug Johnson at AAA Mountain West put it plainly: crude is holding in the $80-a-barrel range on continued instability in the Strait of Hormuz, and that is what is pushing the average up even as drivers buy less. For jobbers and haulers, the read is simple. Your cost of goods is being set offshore right now, not at the rack.
The import crunch
A Rigzone report flags US refiners facing a squeeze on barrels from their single biggest foreign crude supplier. The item is thin on specifics, so treat it as a watch item rather than a confirmed shortfall. If those imports actually tighten, Gulf and Midwest refiners lean harder on pricier alternatives, and that cost flows straight to wholesale gasoline and diesel. Worth tracking against your own supplier's allocation notices this week.
Russian refineries hit
Ukraine confirmed strikes on the Novokuibyshevsk refinery, one of Russia's largest, plus a refinery in Samara Oblast, amid what reporting describes as deepening Russian fuel shortages. Separately, restoration of Iran's South Pars Phase 14 refining unit is 70% complete after an Israeli strike. None of this refines a gallon for a US operator directly. It matters because every barrel of Russian and Iranian processing knocked offline tightens the global product balance and keeps a bid under crude, which is the same crude setting your cost right now.
California worker bill
California lawmakers are weighing Senate Bill 966, which would write existing refinery-worker safety protections into state law while regulators rework the rules under an industry settlement. Backers cite the state's history of refinery fires and explosions. It covers the right to refuse unsafe work, join safety reviews, pick worker representatives, and report hazards anonymously. This is a labor and compliance matter, not a near-term price mover, but anyone buying CARBOB out of California should note that anything touching refinery operating rules there can feed into turnaround timing and supply down the road.
What to watch
Whether the Strait of Hormuz situation calms or worsens, since that is doing most of the work on crude. Whether the import crunch Rigzone flagged shows up as real allocation pressure. And how many more Russian refining units go dark before the product market notices.