Ohio gasoline prices show small increase

VW independent/submitted information

Average retail gasoline prices in Ohio have risen 4.9 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.03 per gallon on Sunday, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 5,345 gas outlets in Ohio. This compares with the national average, which has fallen 1.2 cents per gallon in the last week to $2.04 a gallon, according to gasoline price website GasBuddy.com.

Including the change in gasoline prices in Ohio during the past week, prices Sunday were 34.4 cents per gallon lower than the same day one year ago and 13.2 cents per gallon higher than a month ago. The national average has increased 15.6 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 34.9 cents per gallon lower than this day one year ago.

“It’s especially rare in April to see the average price of gasoline dead even or slightly lower in some places than where it was in the prior week … and as encouraging as that news certainly is for U.S. motorists, unfortunately, it’s more of an anomaly than a trend,” said Gregg Laskoski, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy. “We’ve been fortunate that 2016 delivered a successful and largely uneventful transition by refineries to the ‘summer blend’ fuel formulation, which has been completed in California and is nearing completion almost everywhere else.

“Concurrent output through March and early April matches levels not seen since 2005,” Laskoski added. “So the healthy inventory in advance of demand has helped flatten prices, but we don’t expect that to last when summer travel kicks into high gear.”