Gas prices will drop a few cents this week thanks to lower crude oil prices last week.
Gasbuddy.com Senior Petroleum Analyst Patrick DeHaan says there was a spike in gas prices just after the Fourth of July holiday.
“The statewide average was about $2.15 on July 4th and now it has jumped to about $2.31,” said DeHaan. “Looking a today versus a week ago prices average $2.31 a gallon today across the state. A week ago prices averaged $2.18 so we’re looking at a pretty big increase at over $.10 a gallon.”
That increase is thanks to a new ten cent increase in the gasoline tax.
“We did see a bump at midnight on July 1. Average prices closed out June at about $2.12 and then the next morning prices had jumped up to about $2.18. The big jump after July 4th figured in the rest of the gas tax increase. That combined with a big jump in the price of crude oil in the last week of June is why we saw really the big jump versus where the prices were a week ago.”
DeHaan says the summer gas price outlook doesn’t seem to present any surprises.
“I would say most of the time the statewide average would somewhere in the low – maybe even in the mid $2.00 a gallon range now because of that gas tax. Overall similar summer – perhaps slightly more expensive prices than what we saw last year.”
