by Geoff Fox & Kate Shunney
Gas prices around the area have spiked to over $4 in a little over a month since the U.S. joined Israel in a war against Iran. A restriction on the movement of oil out of the large Middle East oil fields has caused the entire fuel supply chain to fluctuate.
In Hancock, as of Monday afternoon, April 6, gas prices have remained steady at the four gas stations since last Thursday, April 2. Prices were stuck at $4.19 at BFS and Sheetz and $4.09 at Sunoco. Only AC&T has come down from $4.19 to $4.16. 
Other states were seeing larger fluctuations in pump prices during that time, with fuel over the line in West Virginia popping up 20 cents over the Easter weekend.
Except for Sheetz, diesel has risen 10 cents from $5.89 to $5.99 a gallon at BFS and AC&T. Sheetz was still at $5.89 Monday afternoon.
Hancock Town Manager Mike Faith said the budget for the town’s Public Works and Police Department were done last year with increases worked in, but if need be, there’s money in the town’s general fund that could be transferred over to use for fuel if the current prices start to impact the town’s gas budget.
There are workshops to be scheduled for the 2027 fiscal year budget and increase in gas prices could factor into next year’s budget projections.
Faith also said there are escalators built into the contract with trash collectors and he hasn’t seen an impact on prices from them yet. That means the town’s contracts already anticipate there will be fluctuations in fuel prices over the life of their agreement.
Faith said Hancock is a small town so Public Works and police aren’t driving 1,000 miles, keeping cost increases from having a heavy impact on town coffers.
Late last month, House Republicans in Annapolis proposed the state pause Maryland’s 46-cents per gallon state gas tax for 30 days. However, Governor Moore and the Democratic majority didn’t support the measure, saying the loss of that revenue would be lead to a shortage of $100 million in the state transportation infrastructure budget, which the gas tax funds.
The average price of a barrel of oil has risen from $70 per barrel to somewhere between $110-120 per barrel following the U.S. and Israel’s bombings of Iran. In retaliation, Iran has essentially closed international tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, where around 20% of the world’s oil passes out of the Middle East.
Nationwide, AAA reported on Monday, April 6 that the average gallon of gas in the United States cost $4.12 per gallon and diesel cost $5.62 per gallon. On Monday, Maryland’s average cost for gallon of regular was $4.09, according to AAA, with all of Western Maryland seeing the higher end of that average.
