The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in Texas is $3.34, 10 cents more than the average last week, according to the AAA Texas Weekend Gas Watch. Abilene prices rose 16.2 cents to an average of about $3.38 — bumping up from $3.22 a gallon the previous week. Fort Worth drivers saw a slightly higher price increase of 16.6 cents — the highest in the state — though even after that increase they paid about a penny less than Abilene drivers at roughly $3.37 a gallon. The most expensive gasoline average price in Texas was in Amarillo at $3.40 a gallon, while Corpus Christi had the lowest prices in the state — $3.17 for a gallon of regular unleaded. "El Paso is the only Texas city that saw a 2-cent decrease," said Sarah Schimmer, public affairs officer for AAA Texas/New Mexico, who called price increases both in Texas and elsewhere a "snapshot of what's happening in the market right now." The national average for a gallon of regular unleaded is $3.47, 4 cents more than last week, making the statewide price 13 cents less than the national average. "We (Texas) still have very good, affordable gas prices compared to other states out there," Schimmer said. "We're in a state that produces, defines and delivers oil and gas products, so we tend to be in the middle to the lower end in terms of looking at the nationwide picture." A portion of the price of gas in a place like Abilene is attributable to geography. "Getting the gas there is an expense," Schimmer said, noting the community's position several hours away from major centers such as the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area. Communities such as Amarillo suffer from higher prices for similar reasons, she said, adding that multiple components, from taxes to the cost of refining to transportation and distribution, make up the cost one pays at the pump. But according to recent market analysis, some of the current increases in gas prices stem from a strange source — optimism, Schimmer said, specifically that European leaders are taking steps to address recent economic worries. "The pattern we're experiencing is not unusual for this time of year, but it's much more volatile than it has been in years past," she said. "We're now in a global economy, other currencies affect the value of the dollar, and that's what we've seen with the volatility of the (crude oil) market." Typically, prices tend to fall after autumn arrives, Schimmer said, because people are not taking long road trips and are settling back "into a more day-to-day routine." But in the past couple of weeks, prices have increased, Shimmer said, and as the country collectively approaches Thanksgiving, a major, national driving holiday, prices may increase yet again. "It's not unusual for us to see prices increase, because demand is going up," she said. "Thanksgiving is typically one of the more-traveled holidays in the United States." That wasn't welcome news for Mary Johnson, pumping fuel at a gas station across from the Walmart in north Abilene on Friday. "I'm not happy," said Johnson, of the prospect of prices rising around the holiday. "My poor car just eats up gas." Johnson noted that it takes her about $120 every two weeks to keep her large SUV in fuel. The rising cost of gas was concerning, too, for T.C. Edmondson Jr., 76, who was getting gas at a station on the corner of Pine Street and Ambler Avenue. "I don't like it, and I don't understand it," he said of the up-and-down fuel and oil markets, while filling his pickup Friday. The statewide average of fuel costs is 55 cents less than the current high price for the year, $3.89, reached on May 13, Schimmer said.

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