VW gasoline prices rise above state ave.

VW independent/submitted information

For the first time in several months, local gasoline prices are all higher than the statewide average. The lowest price in Van Wert is $2.74 a gallon at Murphy USA in the Towne Center shopping center. That price is 6 cents higher than the statewide average of $2.68 per gallon.

The next lowest local gasoline price is $2.77 per gallon at both the Lassus Handy Dandy station in the 800 block of North Washington Street and the One Stop Shop in the 200 block of North Washington. All five of the remaining stations — the Pak-A-Sak Marathon stations on North Washington and South Shannon, the Shell station on South Washington, the Marathon station adjacent to the Brookside convenience store on West Main Street and the Short Stop Sunoco station — are all at $2.79 per gallon.

Elsewhere in Ohio, prices have fallen 11 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.68 per gallon on Sunday, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 5,345 stations in Ohio. This compares with the national average, which has fallen 2.6 cents per gallon versus last week to $2.88 per gallon, according to GasBuddy.

Including the change locally during the past week, prices yesterday were 29.5 cents per gallon higher than a year ago and are 10.1 cents per gallon lower than a month ago. The national average has increased 2.6 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 42.5 cents per gallon higher than a year ago.

“The last week has seen a flurry of events to keep an eye on, while the recent drop in oil prices materialized at pumps across the country, but nowhere have the declines been as large as Great Lakes states,” said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy. “Great Lakes states have wreaked havoc on the national average, sending it down considerably as stations there have passed along the recent drop in oil prices relatively quickly.

“However, while Great Lakes motorists were seeing lower prices, average prices along the West Coast, mainly in Washington and Oregon, have started to jump after a natural gas pipeline explosion last week pushed some refineries to close,” DeHaan added. “In addition, events in Saudi Arabia bear monitoring as the West claims the Kingdom is behind the disappearance of a Washington Postjournalist and could rile tensions between the world’s largest oil consumer and one of the world’s largest oil producers.

“I believe gas prices in most areas East of the Rockies will drift lower, but keep an eye out on these new developments,” DeHaan noted. “I don’t know that I’ve ever seen autumn so rife with possible volatility at the pump as we’re seeing now.”