Prices at the pump are heading up, and it doesn’t look like that trend will change any time soon.

The average price of unleaded gas crept past the $3 per gallon mark to $3.045 in Dallas Wednesday, up more than $1.20 from where it stood a year ago, according to data from AAA. Nationally, gas prices reached an average of $3.357, the highest price seen in seven years.

“Things have really picked up steam in terms of national gas prices in the last two-and-a-half to three weeks,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum at fuel savings app GasBuddy. “The national average had been stable for a long period of time, but suddenly the price of oil surged, and the price of gasoline followed along with it.”

A combination of events is affecting gas costs, he said, including developing energy crunches in Europe and China. As countries overseas struggle to maintain fuel sources like natural gas and coal, they’re switching to crude oil, skyrocketing demand when supply is relatively tight.

An increase in global oil supply is unlikely, as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has declined to increase production beyond what it agreed to do in July, De Haan said.

International turmoil and crude oil production were also factors in gas prices in 2014, the last time prices were this high.

The cost of crude oil is sitting above $80 a barrel, according to Markets Insider, a steep increase from the around $60 price point it saw in August. Crude oil price is one of four factors that determine the cost of gasoline. Refining costs, distribution costs and taxes also go into determining pump prices.

While Texas and some other southern states usually fare better than the national average for gas prices because of lower taxes and relative proximity to oil production, the region is still seeing unusually high prices. The average gas price in the Lone Star State Wednesday increased by nearly $1.15 compared with a year ago.

The price spike probably isn’t enough to change travel habits, De Haan said, especially as the holiday season approaches.

“Americans have very strong holiday traditions and rituals, so I do not yet foresee a notable downturn in demand given the fact that we are not at record levels,” he said. “I think prices that would exceed $4 per gallon in many areas would be shocking enough to cause more of a notable decline in demand.”

Texas recorded its highest ever average gas price of $3.99 per gallon in July 2008.

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