Gas prices are on the rise throughout the Delaware Valley and across the country.
In Delaware, the gas price average jumped to $3.16 per gallon, up by nine cents on the week and up 92 cents per gallon over last year.
Since Monday, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline has increased by six cents to $3.26, the highest pump price since October 2014. The slight increase in gas demand has contributed to the rise in the national average.
However, the main culprit for rising pump prices remains high crude prices which settled just shy of $80 per barrel on Friday.
Discounted gas became harder to find, although Costco members could take advantage of a $2.96 a gallon price, with a Gulf station in north Wilmington posting a $2.94 price.
Monday gas prices
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Pennsylvania’s gas average is $3.42 today, up a penny overnight and up nine cents in the last week.
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The Philadelphia (five -county) area gas average is $3.43 today, up a penny overnight and up 11 cents in the last week.
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New Jersey’s gas average is $3.27 today, unchanged overnight and up 5 cents in the last week.
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S. Jersey’s gas average is $3.24 today, up a penny overnight and up 8 cents in the last week.
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Delaware’s gas average is $3.18 today, unchanged overnight and up 10 cents in the last week.
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Dover’s gas average is $3.19 today, up a penny overnight and up 10 cents in the last week.
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The National gas average is $3.27 today, up a penny overnight and up seven cents in the last week.
At the close of Monday’s trading session, West Texas Intermediate Crude rose to $82 a barrel, the highest price since 2014.
Prices increased this week after the U.S. Department of Energy dispelled speculation that the Biden Administration would sell crude oil held in the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
The move would have put more crude into the domestic market, but it is unlikely to have had a sustained downward impact on oil prices.
Also, prices rose earlier this week following OPEC+, which comprises the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia and their allies, choosing not to move forward with an agreement to produce 800,000 barrels per day in November. Instead, OPEC+ decided to keep its 400,000 barrels per day planned production increase intact for now.
Prices have increased this week despite the Energy Information Administration’s latest report showing that total domestic crude inventories increased by 2.4 million barrels.
“Local motorists continued to see increases at the pump this week,” said Jana Tidwell, manager of Public and Government Affairs for AA Mid-Atlantic. “Elevated crude prices, nearing $80 per barrel, and the existing fuel supplies at local stations are keeping prices unseasonably high and offering no relief to drivers.”
To find gas prices in your neighborhood, log on to AAA’s Fuel Price Finder. (http://www.AAA.com/fuelfinder).
