NOTTINGHAM, MD—The nation’s average gas price is up again, rising 3.2 cents per gallon from a week ago to $3.12 per gallon this week, 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 7.9 cents higher than a month ago and 94.3 cents higher than a year ago.

The national average price of diesel has risen 0.7 cents in the last week and stands at $3.24 per gallon.

“Gasoline demand over the holiday weekend certainly did not disappoint as millions of Americans flooded the roads for the long weekend, guzzling down gasoline at a clip not seen in years. In the process, we could have set new all-time records for consumption,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy. “As OPEC+ met over the weekend and saw a heated disagreement about raising oil production, WTI crude oil surged in Monday evening electronic trading to nearly $77 per barrel. This was due to higher demand and a lack of additional supply from OPEC amidst a mountain of controversy on how to respond to the market. For now, with imbalances in supply and demand continuing, motorists will continue digging deeper to pay for gasoline as prices are likely headed nowhere but up until global supply starts to catch up with the surge in demand.”

The most common U.S. gas price encountered by motorists was $2.99 per gallon, up 10 cents from last week, followed by $2.89, $2.79 and $3.09.  The average cost at the priciest 10% of stations stands at $4.12 per gallon, up 7 cents from a week ago, while the lowest 10% average $2.67 per gallon, up 5 cents from a week ago. The median U.S. price is $2.99 per gallon, up 4 cents from last week and about 13 cents lower than the national average. The states with the lowest average prices: Mississippi ($2.73), Louisiana ($2.75) and South Carolina ($2.79). The states with the highest priced states: California ($4.29), Hawaii ($3.96) and Washington ($3.79).

In the NottinghamMD.com coverage area, the cheapest gas as of Tuesday morning was located at Costco (9919 Pulaski Highway) and at Sam’s Club (6410 Petrie Way). The price per gallon for regular gas was $2.76 at each location.

Photo by Ingo Joseph from Pexels