Gasoline prices headed toward four-year highs

ATLANTA — The dramatic rise in gasoline prices continued over the past seven days, reaching average highs across the nation not seen since July of 2015. The increase didn’t miss Georgia, which saw prices at the highest level since the recovery period following hurricanes Harvey and Irma last year.

Completing the trifecta for Albany-area drivers, prices at the pump in the metro area for the week moved up 3.5 cents a gallon, according to AAA-The Auto Club Group, to an average of $2.644 a gallon. That total is 16.4 cents a gallon higher than a month ago and 36.3 cents a gallon higher than a year ago.

Still, according to surveyor group GasBuddy.com, Georgia’s average of $2.63 a gallon is still 12 cents a gallon lower than the national average of $2.75. AAA, which like GasBuddy surveys thousands of gas retailers across the state and nation to get up-to-the-minute cost reports, had the national average at $2.763 Monday and the state average at $2.657.

The average for Georgia was the highest of 2018.

“Gas price increases gripped 49 of the nation’s 50 states again last week as oil prices continued their upward move to new multiyear highs,” Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, said. “In addition, government data highlighted a new record for gasoline demand was breached last week, and we’re not even into the summer driving season yet. The road head at the pump looks quite ominous if that demand number proves common in the coming weeks.

“With President Trump’s tweet last week targeting the price of oil, there may be additional scrutiny on oil prices in the coming weeks that bears monitoring. OPEC has been remarkably successful in better aligning supply to demand, draining the crude oil glut, and pushing oil prices to their highest since 2014. While refinery maintenance and the change to summer gasoline is largely complete, oil prices remain one of the largest active drivers of gas prices now and likely in the weeks ahead. All signs point to some additional upward movement before prices peak and perhaps drop slightly around Memorial Day into the month of June — all certainly very contingent and subject to any changes from OPEC.”

The most expensive gas price averages in Georgia Monday were in Savannah ($2.69), Brunswick ($2.69) and Atlanta ($2.68), while the least expensive averages were in Warner Robins ($2.57), Catoosa-Dade-Walker ($2.58) and Dalton ($2.59).

“High oil prices are the main reason gasoline is so expensive right now,” Mark Jenkins, a spokesman for AAA , said. “Crude oil costs about 25 percent more than last year, as what used to be a global glut of oil is now tightening. Now the added expense for oil is making it more expensive to produce gasoline. On the gasoline side, demand is strong and inventories are down, as refineries wrap up their maintenance season and begin pushing out summer-blend fuel, which is more expensive to produce. So there are currently a number of factors keeping upward pressure on gas prices.

“If they haven’t already, gas prices should hit their annual peak within the next couple of weeks. However, unforeseen circumstances like escalating geopolitical tensions or a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico would cause prices to surge. Unfortunately, oil prices could still remain elevated heading into the summer travel season. Which means, travelers will likely find the most expensive summer gas prices in four years.”

Officials with AAA noted it now costs around $40 to fill an average-sized tank of gasoline. That’s more than $6 more for a full tank of gasoline compared a year ago.