Gas prices jump, but relief is on the way

Gas prices jumped in the past week again topping out at $2.85 at some gas stations in the region Tuesday, but the end of rising pump prices is near, according to analysts.

“We are probably in the eighth or ninth inning, if you are a baseball fan,” said Patrick DeHaan with gasbuddy.com, a national website that tracks gas prices.

Average gas prices in the Cincinnati region — covering Butler, Clermont, Hamilton and Warren counties — increased 12 cents over last week, according to travel club AAA.

The national average price of $2.80 a gallon for regular gasoline represents a new 2015 high, five cents more than one week ago and 10 cents more than one month ago, according to AAA’s daily fuel gauge report.

Last week, the Energy Information Administration put out its weekly report on petroleum inventories and it was much worse than expected, prompting crude prices to spike along with gas prices which lead many states to see hefty increases, especially in the Great Lakes region, DeHaan said.

This region’s price jump is “not as bad as the shellacking Indiana and Michigan received last week,” said DeHaan, when Indiana’s average price jumped 29 cents, and Michigan’s rose 25 cents.

Three Illinois refineries are down, two in Ohio, and one went down last week in Memphis, which is also contributing to higher pump prices, DeHaan said.

“These are unexpected malfunctions as a result of doing maintenance and resuming operations. In Memphis, it was a temporary power outage. It takes several days to get them back online, and you are losing out on gasoline production,” DeHaan said.

AAA has been predicting that pump prices won’t go above the $3 mark this summer, and DeHaan agrees.

“I don’t think we’ll see over $3 a gallon,” he said, adding that crude prices are relatively stable, between $58 and $62 a barrel for a month and additional supply is coming from the Gulf Coast.

“Relief is coming. I just hope there are no more refinery issues before that relief arrives,” DeHaan said.

AAA conducts a daily survey of 120,000 gas stations in partnership with Oil Price Information Service and WEX Inc.

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