NOTTINGHAM, MD—The nation’s average gas price has increased 2.9 cents from a week ago and stands at $3.30 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 is up 7.5 cents from a month ago and $1.08 per gallon higher than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has risen 7.8 cents in the last week and stands at $3.53 per gallon.

“The national average closed the week by climbing to yet another fresh seven year high, as the price of oil continues to drag gas prices along for the wild ride, leaving motorists on empty,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy. “With OPEC holding back oil production and strong global oil demand, the situation will no doubt pave the road with even higher gas prices in the weeks ahead. Until several bottlenecks ease, including supply chains and low global inventories of oil, natural gas and coal, we’ll be stuck feeling the pinch of rising oil and gasoline prices. The bad news is that for now, all I see is the upward trend at the pump continuing into the weeks ahead with no sign of relief just yet.”

The most common U.S. gas price encountered by motorists stood at $3.09 per gallon, unchanged from last week, followed by $3.19, $2.99 and $3.29.  The average cost at the priciest 10% of stations stands at $4.25 per gallon, up 5 cents from a week ago, while the lowest 10% average $2.85 per gallon, up 8 cents from a week ago. The median U.S. price is $3.19 per gallon, up 5 cents from last week and about 11 cents lower than the national average.  The states with the lowest average prices: Texas ($2.92), Oklahoma ($2.94) and Arkansas ($2.97).  The states with the highest priced states: California ($4.45), Hawaii ($4.13) and Nevada ($3.90).

In the NottinghamMD.com coverage area, the cheapest gas as of Monday was located at BP (8809 Belair Road), with regular gas selling for $2.97 per gallon.  Sunoco (2920 E. Joppa Road) is also selling regular gas for $3.05 per gallon.

Photo by Ingo Joseph from Pexels