More pain at the pump to come

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Nancy Marshall-Genzer (1:01)

Why you may be paying more at the pump soon.

From Marketplace, I'm Nancy Marshall Genzer in for Kimberly Adams. Crude oil prices are up again this morning as fighting expands across the Middle East. Brent crude, the global benchmark, is trading above $108 a barrel. That's up about 10% over the past week. And rising crude prices are once again putting pressure on the prices we pay at the pump. Marketplace's Henry Epp is here with more. Good morning, Henry.

Henry Epp (1:31)

Hey, Nancy.

Nancy Marshall-Genzer (1:32)

For months, we've been hearing about the Strait of Hormuz, how the slowdown of oil tanker traffic there has affected prices. But the fighting happening now is affecting oil flows in other parts of the Middle East. What's the latest?

Henry Epp (1:46)

Basically, some of the other routes to get around the Strait of Hormuz are now also under threat. Iran-backed Houthi rebels captured an area along the Red Sea last week. And drone strikes last week shut down a key oil pipeline running east to west across Saudi Arabia. And that's been one of the main ways Saudi Arabia has been rerouting oil around the Strait of Hormuz. Reuters reports 4% of the world's oil supply could be lost if that pipeline remains shut. Repairs could take weeks. Meanwhile, Iran and other Gulf nations were supposed to meet today to discuss the future of the Strait of Hormuz. But that meeting has been postponed.

Nancy Marshall-Genzer (2:21)

OK, and all of this is driving up the price of crude oil, of course. What does that mean for the prices we pay here at the pump in the US.?

Henry Epp (2:29)

As you might have noticed, it means gas prices are rising again. The national average is up to $4.31 a gallon. That's up 16 cents in the past week, according to AAA. And the price of diesel is climbing even higher. It crossed $6 a gallon for the first time ever last week. It's now up to $6.23.

That's important because pretty much everything we buy at the store comes on a diesel truck.

Nancy Marshall-Genzer (2:53)

Okay. Marketplace's Henry Epp, thank you.

Henry Epp (2:56)

Thanks.

Nancy Marshall-Genzer (2:57)

The push for guardrails for AI has taken on a new urgency. Microsoft just released a draft code of conduct designed to impose limits on future AI models. The leaders of several AI companies, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amadei, are calling for a slowdown on AI research in the name of safety. Earlier this morning, I spoke with Marketplace's future effects correspondent, David Brancaccio. I asked David about Amadei's open letter over the weekend.

David Brancaccio (3:25)

Amadei proposes broadly three things, Nancy, that governments should come up with common AI safety standards. Also, we should work with authoritarian governments around the world to bring them into this effort. Number three, the most practical of Amadei's suggestions, that third-party safety experts should be positioned at AI companies to monitor for dangerous practices. Sam Altman at Rival Open AI called that a quote, great idea. Elon Musk, who's also big into AI, posted, quote, Dario's right.

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