Gas prices continue to hover near multi-year highs

AAA says the average price for regular unleaded gasoline in Michigan is down slightly from a week ago to $3.019. In Marquette, the cost stayed flat at $3.06. The calm is unlikely to last, though.

What you see at the pump tends to trail oil markets by 10-14 days, and they have hit multi-year highs in recent days, both domestically and internationally. Brent crude is now over $71 per barrel, a 25-month high.

Speculators are betting on far worse in the future. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday morning that $100 call options are hot between now and the end of 2022. That gives them the opportunity to purchase a barrel of oil for $100 between now and the maturity date. It is a profitable trade once the price goes above the century mark, as they would then have the ability to get black gold for less than what they could sell it for on the open market.

The move would mirror what happened after the last global recession, the financial crisis of 2008. Oil lost over 70 percent of its value before rebounding sharply over the next couple years. The highest recorded average gas price ever for Marquette was $4.31 on May 13th, 2011.

Michigan raised its state gas tax under Governor Rick Snyder, which will factor into future prices. Governor Gretchen Whitmer proposed a 40-cent increase right after her inauguration, but it never came up for a vote in the state legislature.