Ohio gasoline prices continue to increase

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Average retail gasoline prices in Ohio have risen 18.6 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.61 per gallon on Sunday, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 5,345 gas outlets in Ohio. This compares with the national average, which has increased 6.5 cents per gallon in the last week to $2.53 per gallon, according to gasoline price website GasBuddy.com.

Including the change in gas prices in Ohio during the past week, prices Sunday were 52.1 cents per gallon higher than the same day one year ago and 32.2 cents per gallon higher than a month ago. The national average has increased 3.8 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 32 cents per gallon higher than this day one year ago.

“It’s been a frenzied week at fuel pumps across the country, but without a hurricane driving up prices, many motorists have been dumbfounded about what’s taking place with the unseasonable upward trend,” said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy. “Such a strong weekly upward move is rare in the fall, but is explained by a confluence of factors, including oil prices hitting a new 2017 high, a major pipeline leak resulting in disruption, autumn refinery maintenance, but perhaps among the more surprising- robust demand for gasoline so late in the season.

“Such demand has magnified relatively mundane factors into a major gas price event for much of the United States and Canada,” DeHaan added. “But some slowdown is expected in the Great Lakes, the region hardest hit with price spikes in the last week, as repairs (to the) Explorer Pipeline have been completed, but some additional bumps in the road ahead can be expected for motorists elsewhere.”