MPNnow.com —
As the holiday shopping and travel season draws near, gas prices are going up — both locally and across the country.
According to a nationwide AAA gas price survey, the average cost of a gallon of regular grade gas costs $2.85, a 19-cent increase, or about 7 percent over this time last year.
Locally, gas is more expensive than the national average at $2.99 per gallon, a 13-cent increase, or about 5 percent, over last year, according to the AAA survey.
At the Little Country Store on County Road 4 in Hopewell, gas prices jumped about 8 cents in a week, employee Shelly Peno said Monday morning, from $2.95 to $3.03 per gallon.
“It’s a little high for right now, but that’s where the market is at,” Peno said.
The higher gas prices are a reflection on the price of crude oil on the world market, said Diana Dibble, public affairs manager for AAA Western New York. Last week, crude oil traded at about $83 per barrel, Dibble said, which is on the higher end of the average price range. A variety of factors can influence the price of crude, she said, including the strength of the U.S. dollar.
While gas is more expensive than it was last year, Dibble said analysts to do not expect any wild swings in pricing. In the last three weeks, she said gas prices have been fairly stable.
“There’s an ample supply but sluggish demand,” Dibble said. “The fundamentals are not in place to sustain a large increase or spike in gas prices.”
