CHICAGO — If you were road tripping or just driving around this weekend you probably already know this... or at least your wallet does.
The price of gasoline has spiked again.
GasBuddy, the app and website designed to help find the cheapest fuel in your area, says the price of gas jumped 18.7 cents in the past week, averaging $3.66 across the Twin Cities this morning. The cheapest fuel reported in GasBuddy's regular survey of 1,106 gas stations across the metro was $3.34, while the most expensive was pumping at $3.89, a difference of 55 cents per gallon.
While the jump at the pump is noticeable, remember that Minnesota motorists were paying almost 60 cents more just one year ago.
Petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan says the recent jump in prices is related to the heat wave that is gripping much of the country, along with an increase in demand due in part to summer travel.
"Gas prices suddenly soared over the last week due to heat-related refinery outages that impacted some of the largest refineries in the country, at a time when summer gasoline demand peaks and as gasoline inventories slid to their lowest July level since 2015," said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. "In addition, oil prices surged to their highest level in months, rising to over $80 per barrel due to SPR releases coming to an end and concerns over cuts in supply from Saudi Arabia and Russia, the second and third largest oil producers in the world."
The good news, De Haan says, is that additional price hikes should start slowing, but he cautions that hurricane season is just ahead, and any storm-related refinery outages could send the market spiraling again.
Minnesotans are not alone in their pump pain, as unleaded is now averaging $3.56 per gallon in Wisconsin, and just over the border in South Dakota it's $3.50.
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