NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Kansas gas prices and national gas prices generally go in the same direction. That's not the case right now, according to Shawn Steward with AAA Kansas.
"The national average is down slightly in the last week, down about a cent," Steward said. "Here in Kansas, we've seen a slight increase, up about three cents to $3.59 on average. According to the Energy Information Administration, gas demand increased last week. We'll probably see another increase this week where we factor in the holiday weekend travel."
Area counties are also generally up from last week.
Reno: $3.49
McPherson: $3.46
Harvey: $3.42
Sedgwick: $3.54
Kingman: $3.60
Pratt: $3.80
Stafford: $3.60
Rice: $3.54
"With Saudi Arabia continuing their oil production cuts, the price of crude oil has made a jump in the past week," Steward said. "We're now at more than $87 a barrel. All of these factors would typically signal an increase in gas prices."
More than half of the underlying price of a gallon of gas has to do with the cost of the crude oil it is refined from.
"We are headed into a traditionally lower demand season for gas in the fall and winter," Steward said. "When you factor in the winter blend of gas, which traditionally has helped lower prices slightly, we'll just kind of have to see where crude oil prices go, because that's really the driving factor."
Statewide prices are well above a year ago. Last September, the average was $3.43 a gallon.
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