Gas prices hit a nationwide average of $3.08 per gallon on Monday, driven by the cost of crude oil. Crude oil passed $70 a barrel, the highest price since October 2018, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). Price per barrel has jumped $23 per barrel since January. … While production is going up, it’s the first time it’s gone up in a while, “and it’s still not going up as quickly as we would like to see it to cool prices,” Phil Flynn, an energy market analyst with PRICE Futures Group, told The Epoch Times. … As usual, the highest prices are being seen by drivers in the Western U.S. and Illinois, with a peak of $4.22 a gallon. Drivers in the Midwest and South may see prices as low as $2.71 a gallon.