Sticking to the slow lane since last week, the national average for a gallon of gas dipped slightly for a few days before rising a fraction of a cent higher to $3.15, reports AAA. However, seasonal demand trends, higher costs for oil, and routine refinery maintenance will likely push pump prices slowly higher soon.
“It feels like being in a car with a cold battery, cranking away yet slow to turn over,” said Andrew Gross, AAA spokesperson. “But gas prices will likely start increasing around Valentine’s Day.”
According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas demand increased from 8.14 to 8.81 million b/d last week. Meanwhile, total domestic gasoline stocks decreased by 3.1 million bbl to 251 million bbl. Higher gas demand and tighter supply have contributed to elevated pump prices. If demand continues to increase, drivers could see pump prices rise steadily.
Today’s national average of $3.15 is eight cents more than a month ago but 29 cents less than a year ago.
- Since last Thursday, these 10 states have seen the largest changes in their averages: Missouri (+22 cents), Wisconsin (+16 cents), Kentucky (+15 cents), Utah (+13 cents), Illinois (+10 cents), Florida (−10 cents), New Mexico (−7 cents), Ohio (+6 cents), Michigan (+5 cents) and Arizona (+5 cents).
- The nation’s top 10 least expensive markets: Oklahoma ($2.67), Wyoming ($2.69), Colorado ($2.72), Kansas ($2.74), Mississippi ($2.75), Arkansas ($2.75), Missouri ($2.79), South Dakota ($2.81), Texas ($2.82) and North Dakota ($2.82).
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The wholesale price has risen about 5% in the last two days. Readying an increase of least 10% at the pumps. With the problems in the Middle East and the elections looming, we may be in trouble “AGAIN”. Any excuse to raise prices.
Thank you, RV Travel. I paid $3.65/gallon for 66 gallons of diesel at a TA truckstop in Georgia last Saturday (3feb24) and $2.36/gallon for 16 gallons of gasoline today (9feb24) at a Mapco station in Tennessee. Our prices here in the Southeast aren’t too bad right now. Safe travels! 🙂
Thankfully the US continues to pump more oil offsetting the cabal decisions. Govt doesn’t get enough credit for this going against the “left” talk. They are doing the common sense thing.
Why does gas price go up for “routine maintenance”? Do they have to pay OT for the workers, hire contract workers? It’s routine maintenance!
When the routine maintenance occurs, then refinery runs are reduced, and product volumes produced decline.
There are a few Costco gas stations all around the country that sell diesel. It is generally the lowest price in their area but it still pays to check around. For instance, in southern California I found a Costco with diesel that was lower than other stations but I would be going past a very large Indian casino that had a gas and truck stop with by far the lowest price for gas and diesel. Nevertheless, that price was still higher than I found outside of California on our cross-country trip last August, September and October. I found stations adjacent to interstate highways such as TA, Flying J and some others were usually higher than some of the stations in town. Maverick often beats all.