Why gas prices are on the rise, again
The price of gasoline rose 13 cents in the last two weeks, bringing the national average for a gallon of regular gas to $2.33 鈥� up 26 cents from the national low which hit on Jan. 26. 鈥揳ccording to the Lundberg Survey released on Sunday.
"It was dropping dramatically for nine months straight and then it hit bottom, and now it's up 26 cents since then, the latest being 13 cents the past two weeks,鈥� .
showed that the highest gas prices in the contiguous U.S. was in Los Angeles where gas is $2.91 per gallon, and that the lowest was in Salt Lake City at $1.91 per gallon.
According to survey publisher Lundberg, the continued steelworkers' strike and a refinery explosion that occurred Wednesday at an Exxon Mobil Corp plant in Torrance, Calif., contributed to this most recent upward push in prices.
The steelworkers鈥� strike, the largest in 35 years, is currently in its fourth week and is affecting 12 oil refineries and 20 percent of American oil production,
Gas prices in California immediately spiked following the gas explosion, as the Torrance Exxon refinery produces about 10 percent of California鈥檚 gasoline. Director of America鈥檚 Oil News Jeff Mower made the point that the prices were already on their way up in California because many refineries are not currently operating at full capacity since it is maintenance season.
But prices are still keeping with the global head of energy analysis at Oil Price Information Service Tom Kloza鈥檚 predictions from two weeks ago.
鈥淲e are going to see increases in the next 90 days and I wouldn鈥檛 be surprised to see prices considerably higher by April but nothing like what we have seen in the last four years,鈥� on Feb. 6.
As the Monitor reported previously, the spike in gas prices may be unwanted but it isn鈥檛 unusual and it isn鈥檛 necessarily cause for concern.
Gas prices typically rise by about 30 to 50 cents during this time of year because refineries are switching from making winter gasoline, which is cheaper, to the more expensive fuel used during the summer. The switch also creates an opportunity for refineries to do maintenance work, which requires shutting down units and pushes prices up.
$2.33 per gallon is still an improvement from last year鈥檚 average. 聽Gasoline is down $1.08 a gallon from the same year-ago period, and there is no shortage of gasoline, said Trilby Lundberg.
