Gas prices soar ahead of Memorial Day weekend

SOUTH BEND, Ind – Surging gas prices has people nationwide and in Michiana saying they won’t drive far this year.

Gas prices in South Bend are up 63-cents from this time last year.

According to Gas Buddy 24-percent of people polled said they will be traveling less than 500-miles roundtrip.

Experts on the fuel industry are saying there are reasons leading to the spike in gas prices.

“OPEC has entered it’s seventeenth month of cutting oil production globally that has led to global and U.S. inventory to plummet. The glut of crude oil that we saw two years ago is gone. The second reason is Venezuela is a major country with the largest oil reserves in the world, the largest proven oil reserves in the world and turmoil there is limiting how much oil they’re exporting” Patrick Dehaan of Gas Buddy said.

DeHaan also said The President pulling out of the Iran Nuclear Deal is partially to blame for the higher gas prices.