Gas prices are on the rise again not only in New York but nationally.
According to AAA of Western and Central New York, the state’s average on Monday is $3.30, up two cents from one week ago, while the national average is up eight cents from last week to $3.28 per gallon.
A significant contributor is a shutdown at the large BP-Whiting refinery in Indiana, which was offline for more than two weeks due to a power outage. The refinery processes 435,000 barrels of crude oil per day, and the shutdown caused prices throughout the Midwest to climb, pushing the national average higher as well. In New York State, AAA of Western and Central New York reported they are seeing only a few cents difference since last week, which is more typical for this time of year. This past week, we saw a decrease in gas demand, but fluctuating oil prices and a tight gas supply increased prices. With February Break this week in the northeast, we could see a spike in gas demand result in another increase in pump prices locally.
Diesel prices are also fluctuating. The national average price for diesel is $4.10, up 10 cents from one week ago, and down from $4.51 a year ago. The New York average for diesel is $4.41, up 1 cent from a week ago, and lower than $5.14 one year ago.
