monitoring the – GasBuddy’s analyst tracks oil and headlines as gas prices rise. The app is seeing a surge in downloads amid heightened consumer frustration.
GasBuddy is riding a wave of fresh attention as Americans track higher fuel costs, and the company’s analyst has become the face of a familiar kind of digital vigilance.
Patrick De Haan. a petroleum analyst for GasBuddy. spends his workdays watching prices move in real time and working out why they’re changing.. Based in Chicago. he described a routine built around scanning multiple streams of information that can ultimately show up at the pump.. Instead of relying on a single source. he cycles between internal GasBuddy tools. spreadsheets tracking fuel prices. data from the Energy Information Administration. commodities-market activity. and news developments that can shift expectations quickly.
De Haan’s mornings start with one key input: oil prices.. He said that when crude moves sharply. he then looks for the “needle-moving” stories that could explain what’s driving the market’s change.. His approach is iterative—he keeps digging until a plausible connection emerges between what markets are doing and the headlines that may have triggered the shift.
During periods of fuel-price volatility, De Haan becomes both analyst and explainer.. He fields questions across television and podcasts about why prices are suddenly higher. and he also contributes analysis to digital outlets.. He writes a separate Substack focused on fuel markets and energy prices. reflecting how central these fast-moving signals have become for both traders and everyday drivers.
For the company, the stakes of tracking these signals are visible in user behavior.. GasBuddy. which allows drivers to compare nearby gas prices using a combination of crowdsourced reports. gas station data. and third-party partnerships. appears to be drawing increasing interest as consumers seek ways to reduce what they pay at the pump.
GasBuddy’s parent company, PDI Technologies, told Business Insider that the app has more than 6 million monthly active users.. The picture also includes download momentum: app analysis firm Appfigures Intelligence. using data shared with Business Insider. found that GasBuddy downloads surged 384% month over month in March to roughly 575. 000 US downloads.. In April, downloads dipped to 473,000, but remained more than double the app’s monthly average.
The growth trend continued into May as well. with Appfigures Intelligence saying that just one week into the month. more drivers downloaded the app than in all of January.. The data also suggested a potential stress point for users: Appfigures found GasBuddy has recently received a noticeably higher share of negative user ratings than usual. which it attributed to growing consumer frustration tied to fuel prices.
That frustration matters because the app’s value proposition is directly linked to price differences that drivers can see and act on.. When gasoline becomes more expensive—or when drivers sense volatility—tools that quickly surface local pricing can move from convenience to necessity.. In this environment. a monitoring-style posture. mirrored by the internet’s “monitoring the situation” meme. also becomes a practical consumer habit.
Behind the scenes. De Haan said a major portion of his attention is focused on tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz.. He described how developments in that region can translate into a wide range of outcomes for gas prices in the United States. depending on how negotiations between Washington and Tehran unfold.
In the summer ahead. De Haan pointed to a broad possible range for national prices—anywhere from $3.50 to $5.50 a gallon—framing the uncertainty as a function of shifting signals rather than a single forecast.. He said trying to predict the “state of mind” behind the US and Iran is inherently difficult. and that it’s impossible to determine precisely what will drive negotiations.
For drivers. this uncertainty shows up as rapid changes in what they see on gas-station signs. and it can happen even when the average person has little control over the upstream forces at play.. De Haan’s process—starting with oil. then tracing market-moving headlines through the fuel supply chain—illustrates why gas prices can feel erratic: multiple markets and political signals can interact. sometimes quickly.
From a business standpoint, the combination of volatility and heightened public attention can create a feedback loop.. As prices rise and consumers search for ways to save. apps like GasBuddy can see faster adoption. while negative ratings can increase when users feel relief is out of reach.. The result is a tight link between macro events. pricing behavior. and app engagement—one that analysts and product teams are effectively watching in parallel.
GasBuddy gas prices oil prices fuel market analysis PDI Technologies downloads surge Strait of Hormuz