Gas Prices Rise By 8 Cents Over Past 3 Weeks To $2.10, Predicted To Stay Low This Summer

The average price of gasoline in the United States jumped by eight cents over the past three weeks to an average of $2.10 per gallon, ABC News reported on Sunday.

Regular grade fuel rose to around $2.10 a gallon in a survey conducted on Friday, an eight-cent increase from $2.02 a gallon on March 18. This price was the highest since December 4. Gas prices have risen a total of 33 cents since February 19.

Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said in an interview that this increase has little to do with global crude oil prices and is likely due to gas stations raising prices in response to refiners doing the same. She said prices will likely continue to rise in small increments as oil refiners continue to increase prices as demand rises during the summer driving season.

In addition to higher demand, there’s also the switch to higher-cost summer blend gasoline looming. There’s a federally-mandated May 1 deadline for stations to do the changeover. Summer gas is already being delivered in many locations, and the summer blend is always a bit more expensive than the winter gasoline.

“Even if crude oil prices keep meandering with no decisive climb, we may still see pump prices rise short-term,” Lundberg said to Yahoo Finance.

Gas prices inched up in New Jersey last week and are expected to move higher as summer approaches. https://t.co/uIdqkrA2mz

— News12NJ (@News12NJ) April 10, 2016

Gas prices in the first quarter of 2016 were reported to be the lowest in 12 years, according to Patch. Though Americans anticipate that the price will eventually rise, The Dallas Morning News noted for the foreseeable future gas prices will only experience periodic moderate price increases.

“EIA expects that regular-grade gasoline retail prices will average $2.45/gal during the 2016 summer driving season (April through September), down from an average of $3.59/gal last summer. The projected monthly average regular retail gasoline price falls from $2.50/gal in April to $2.43/gal in September.”

The same prediction is being made by analysts at the website GasBuddy, who forecast price hikes followed by a low-cost summer.

“Motorists should be prepared for regional hotspots at the pump over the next month or two as refiners, especially in the Midwest, continue maintenance. Once maintenance season is over in early June, gasoline prices will likely cool off and as GasBuddy predicts, be at their lowest summer level in over a decade.”

The American Automobile Association (AAA) was quoted by the Morning News as saying gas prices for April began at their cheapest levels since 2009 and anticipating summer savings for consumers in spite of Americans driving at record rates.

“Although prices are expected to move higher leading into the summer driving season, consumers will likely continue to benefit from comparative savings due to the overall abundance of supply and the lower price for crude oil.”

Overall, this is good news for consumers who spent the last few years watching gas price skyrocket month after month, and are now able to keep a little extra in their pocket. Lower oil prices globally is a give-and-take situation, says the Seguin Gazette.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” Stacie Vargas, a follower of the Gazette‘s Facebook page said. “As a consumer, cheaper gas means cheaper goods. For people who work in the oil and gas industry, cheaper gas means no more job and no more livelihood. It’s a good and bad thing.”

Time will tell if prices at the pump will continue to make commercial transport and maintaining a car cheaper, or if continued refinery maintenance and rising demand will lead to much higher prices by Memorial Day.

In a survey of about 2,500 gas stations in major cities of the lower 48 states of the U.S., the lowest retail price for a gallon of gas was in Tulsa, Oklahoma at $1.67 per gallon. The highest was in Los Angeles, California at $2.80 a gallon. The average U.S. diesel price is $2.17 per gallon, which has gone up two cents in the past three weeks.

[Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images]