The national average for a gallon of gasoline in the United States has risen for the second week in a row, up 8.8 cents from a week ago, to $3.57, according to GasBuddy, and up to $3.64 per gallon based on AAA data.
GasBuddy data shows the national average up 13 cents from a month ago, but still 52.6 cents lower than a year ago. Diesel has gone in the reverse direction, down 1.6 cents in the past week, at $4.15 per gallon, and down 88.9 cents compared to year-ago prices. That represents the "narrowest difference" to gasoline in over a year, according to GasBuddy.
"The national average price of gasoline has continued its relatively slow climb, with 44 states seeing average gasoline prices climb over the last week," GasBuddy's Patrick De Haan said.
"Prices are being pulled up not only due to continued increases in demand as temperatures warm, but also pressure from oil prices, which have risen over 20% in the last month, primarily driven by OPEC's surprise decision a week ago to cut oil production."
While De Haan expects prices to continue to increase through April and May, he anticipates a June slump after refineries have finished the transition to more expensive summer gasoline.
Also on Monday, GasBuddy said that U.S. gasoline demand for the week ending April 8 was down 2.8% week-on-week, and 2.9% below the rolling four-week average. Easter Sunday gasoline demand in the U.S. fell 9.7% from the same time last year, while De Haan described demand for last week, Wednesday through Saturday, as "quite weak".
By Tom Kool for Oilprice.com
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Tom majored in International Business at Amsterdam’s Higher School of Economics, he is Oilprice.com's Head of Operations More