Gas prices up in VW; still below state ave.

VW independent/submitted information

While the low gasoline price in Van Wert was 21 cents higher than last, it still remained below the state and national average. The low price in Van Wert today is $2.54 per gallon, at both Murphy’s USA in the Towne Center shopping center and the Lassus Handy Dandy station on North Washington Street. The low price last week was $2

The next lowest price was at One Stop Shop in the 200 block of North Washington, at $2.56 a gallon, while the remaining Van Wert stations, the Pak-A-Sak Marathon stations, the Marathon station at Brookside Convenience Store on West Main Street, the Shell station on South Washington, and the Sunoco station at Short Stop on East Main Street, were all at $2.59 a gallon.

Average retail gasoline prices in Ohio increased 9.8 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.68 per gallon on Sunday, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 5,345 gas outlets in Ohio. This compares with the national average that has increased 3.4 cents per gallon in the last week to $2.75 per gallon, according to gasoline price website GasBuddy.com.

Including the change in gas prices in Ohio during the past week, prices Sunday were 30 cents per gallon higher than the same day one year ago and are 24.7 cents per gallon higher than a month ago. The national average has increased 15.5 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 33.5 cents per gallon higher than this day one year ago.

“Gas price increases gripped 49 of the nation’s 50 states again last week as oil prices continued their upward move to new multi-year highs. In addition, government data highlighted a new record for gasoline demand was breached last week, and we’re not even into the summer driving season yet,” said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy. “The road head at the pump looks quite ominous if that demand number proves common in the coming weeks.

“With President Trump’s tweet last week targeting the price of oil, there may be additional scrutiny on oil prices in the coming weeks that bears monitoring,” DeHaan added. “OPEC has been remarkably successful in better aligning supply to demand, draining the crude oil glut, and pushing oil prices to their highest since 2014.

“While refinery maintenance and the change to summer gasoline largely complete, oil prices remain one of the largest active drivers of gas prices now and likely in the weeks ahead,” DeHaan noted. “All signs point to some additional upward movement before prices peak and perhaps drop slightly around Memorial Day into the month of June — all certainly very contingent and subject to any changes from OPEC.”