NOTTINGHAM, MD—After declining last week, the nation’s average gas prices have begun to climb again, rising 2.5 cents per gallon from a week ago to $3.09 per gallon on Monday, according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 11 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country.

The national average now stands 4.7 cents higher than a month ago and 92.1 cents higher than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has risen 2.3 cents in the last week and stands at $3.24 per gallon.

“With oil’s continued push higher, fueled by continued strong demand globally and production only slowly answering, gasoline prices have had no choice but following oil’s rise last week setting a new 2021 high,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy. “As we approach July 4, it appears the only way forward is for gas prices to continue to rise as Americans’ insatiable demand for gasoline continues to act as a catalyst. And with hurricane season soon coming into its prime, we have plenty more catalysts for a rise in price, and few that could restrain the situation. Motorists should prepare to dig deeper for the second half of the summer, unfortunately.”

The most common U.S. gas price encountered by motorists was $2.89 per gallon, unchanged from last week, followed by $2.99, $2.79 and $3.09.
The average cost at the priciest 10% of stations stands at $4.11 per gallon, up 6 cents from a week ago, while the lowest 10% average $2.64 per gallon, up 4 cents from a week ago. The median U.S. price is $2.96 per gallon, up 2 cents from last week and about 13 cents lower than the national average. The states with the lowest average prices: Mississippi ($2.71), Louisiana ($2.72) and Texas ($2.76). The states with the highest priced states: California ($4.27), Hawaii ($3.96) and Nevada ($3.71).

In the NottinghamMD.com coverage area, the cheapest gas as of Monday morning was located at Costco (9919 Pulaski Highway) and at Sam’s Club (6410 Petrie Way). The price per gallon for regular gas was $2.74 at each location.  BJ’s (4201 Wholesale Club Drive) also made the list at $2,75 per gallon.

Exxon (Honeygo Boulevard at Mercantile Road) made the area’s “most expensive” list at $3,69 per gallon.

Photo by Ingo Joseph from Pexels