Last month's winter storm on the Gulf Coast continues to get the blame for rising gasoline prices across the South, including a six-cent price hike in Georgia this week.
Sunday night's report from AAA-The Auto Club Group shows Georgia motorists are paying an average price of $2.57 a gallon this week. The price is 33-cents more than a month ago and 29-cents more than this time a year ago. Georgia motorists are paying $38.55 to fill a 15-gallon tank of gasoline.
"Because U.S. crude production was offline due to the Gulf Coast winter storm we can expect gas prices to be impacted,” said Montrae Waiters, spokeswoman for AAA. Waiters said Georgians can expect fuel prices to continue to rise this week.
NATIONAL AVERAGE CLIMBS AS CRUDE PRICES INCREASE
Since last Monday, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline has increased by nine-cents to $2.72. The national average continues to increase as crude prices march higher. Gas prices have also increased from longer-than-expected refinery outages due to last week’s winter storm that impacted the Gulf Coast. As refineries restart and resume normal operations, supply is expected to increase in impacted areas and should bring stability to pump prices.
At the close of last Thursday’s formal trading session, WTI increased by 31 cents to settle at $63.52 — the highest settlement price since May 2019. Crude prices have increased this week due to growing market optimism that as vaccines become more available, crude demand will recover. Prices continue to increase despite the Energy Information Administration’s new weekly report revealing that total domestic crude inventories increased by 1.3 million barrels last week, bringing the supply level to 463 million barrels. However, if market optimism continues to increase, crude prices will likely end the week higher.
REGIONAL PRICES
Atlanta ($2.57)
- Most expensive Georgia metro markets – Savannah ($2.62), Brunswick ($2.61), and Valdosta ($2.58).
- Least expensive Georgia metro markets – Catoosa-Dade-Walker ($2.51), Rome ($2.52), and Athens ($2.53).
- Hall County gasoline prices this week reached $2.54, up a penny from a week ago.
Follow this link to find a map that shows gasoline prices in each Georgia county.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2021/3/983333/aaa-georgia-gasoline-prices-rise-again-up-6-cents-in-the-past-week