COLUMBUS (WCMH) – Gas prices took a sharp incline throughout the country last week, including in Columbus, where prices at the pump rose nearly 20 cents.
After prices dropped by a dime the previous week, the cost for a gallon of gas jumped by 19.2 cents to $3.54 per gallon, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 500 stations. The current price is 11.5 cents per gallon higher than one month ago but remains 18.3 cents lower than this time one year ago.
The cheapest gas station in the Columbus area was priced at $3.13 a gallon, while the most expensive was $3.65, a difference of 52 cents per gallon. In Ohio, the average price of gas also rose by nearly the same amount, 20.5 cents, from one week ago, averaging out at $3.51, while nationally, gas prices rose slightly (6.5 cents) to $3.57 per gallon.
According to Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, the rise in cost isn’t unexpected for this time of year, and the rest of the country will continue to follow west-coast price increases later this month.
“Gas prices have leapt back up, driven by extensive refinery maintenance on the West Coast, where prices have increased notably; only a handful of states have seen prices decline over the last week,” said De Haan. “The West Coast is likely to see gas prices continue to jump, and in a week or so, will be joined by the mid-Atlantic and Northeast states as they wrap up the transition to summer gasoline.”
