The cost for a barrel of oil approached $87 last week – its highest point since October – and gas prices followed.
“After a brief break, gas prices have leapt back up, driven by extensive refinery maintenance on the West Coast, where prices have increased notably; only a handful of states have seen prices decline over the last week,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “We are not only facing the seasonal factors that push prices up — refinery maintenance, the switch to summer gasoline, and rising demand — but also escalating crude oil prices as OPEC’s production cuts continue to cause declining global oil inventories, with escalations between Iran and Israel adding to concerns of further destabilization. The West Coast is likely to see gas prices continue to jump, and in a week or so, will be joined by the mid-Atlantic and Northeast states as they wrap up the transition to summer gasoline.”
The current Pennsylvania average rose 6.4 cents per gallon in the last week, sitting at $3.68 per gallon Monday. That’s 15.8 cents per gallon higher than a month ago and 0.9 cents higher than a year ago, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 5,269 stations in Pennsylvania.
In Western Pennsylvania, AAA East Central reported gas prices were 10 cents higher this week at $3.839 per gallon. In Bradford, the average was $3.846; in Brookville, $3.811; in DuBois, $3.848; in Erie, $3.857; and in Warren, $3.886.
According to GasBuddy price reports, the cheapest station in Pennsylvania was priced at $2.65 per gallon Sunday while the most expensive was $4.59 per gallon, a difference of $1.94 per gallon.
Nationwide, the average price of gasoline increased 6.5 cents from last week, at $3.57 per gallon Monday. That’s up 17.1 cents per gallon from a month ago and is 0.8 cents per gallon less than a year ago.
The national average price of diesel increased 3.1 cents in the last week to stand at $4.02 per gallon.
As domestic gasoline demand increases and oil prices are now in the mid-$80s per barrel range, the national average for a gallon of gas climbed six cents to $3.59 over the past week. Today’s national average is 19 cents more than a month ago and the same as a year ago.
According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas demand rose from 8.72 to 9.23 million barrels per day last week. Meanwhile, total domestic gasoline stocks decreased by 4.2 million barrels to 227.8 million barrels. Higher demand and rising oil prices will likely nudge pump prices higher.
At the close of Wednesday’s formal trading session, West Texas Intermediate increased by 28 cents to settle at $85.43. Renewed Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s oil infrastructure and increasing tension in the Middle East are causing oil prices to spike even though EIA reported an increase of 3.2 million barrels from the previous week. At 451.4 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about 2% below the five-year average for this time of year.
In Pennsylvania in 2022, a gallon of gas averaged $4.22, the highest April 8 mark of the last 10 years. In 2020 it was $2.09 per gallon and just $1.88 nationally.
