BALTIMORE, MD—After a week in which the national average held unchanged, gas prices have resumed their climb, rising 6.5 cents compared to a week ago at $3.57 per gallon this week, according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 12 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country.

The national average is up 17.1 cents from a month ago but 0.8 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has increased 3.1 cents in the last week and stands at $4.02 per gallon—15 cents lower than one year ago.

“After a brief break, gas prices have leapt back up, driven by extensive refinery maintenance on the West Coast, where prices have increased notably; only a handful of states have seen prices decline over the last week,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “With oil prices rising to nearly $87 per barrel last week, their highest since October, we are not only facing the seasonal factors that push prices up—refinery maintenance, the switch to summer gasoline, and rising demand—but also escalating crude oil prices as OPEC’s production cuts continue to cause declining global oil inventories, with escalations between Iran and Israel adding to concerns of further destabilization. The West Coast is likely to see gas prices continue to jump, and in a week or so, will be joined by the mid-Atlantic and Northeast states as they wrap up the transition to summer gasoline.”

The most common U.S. gas price encountered by motorists stood at $3.29 per gallon, unchanged from last week, followed by $3.39, $3.49, $3.19, and $3.59 rounding out the top five most common prices.

The median U.S. gas price is $3.39 per gallon, up 4 cents from last week and about 18 cents lower than the national average. The top 10% of stations in the country average $5.05 per gallon, while the bottom 10% average $3.00 per gallon. The states with the lowest average prices: Colorado ($3.01), Mississippi ($3.08), Oklahoma ($3.10).

The states with the highest average prices: California ($5.30), Hawaii ($4.67), and Washington ($4.58).

See previous gas price reports here

In the Baltimore metro area, the cheapest gas this week could be found at the following locations:

Photo via Pixabay