NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON,Kan. — Though Shawn Steward with AAA Kansas isn't certain that we've hit the bottom when it comes to gas prices, they are going back up in the last little while.
"We've seen quite a trend there, for maybe six months or so, of a downward trend at the gas pumps," Steward said. "In the last few days, we've started to see them slowly tick back up."
The Kansas average Monday was $2.67. That's up 4 cents from a week ago, down 6 cents from a month ago. The year ago price was $3.20 a gallon.
"Higher crude oil prices have been causing prices to tick up slightly at the pumps," Steward said.
West Texas Intermediate Crude was at $76.79 a barrel early Tuesday morning. There are many factors that can change the prices even from county to county within Kansas.
"Transportation costs, there's wholesale prices, there's taxes for specific counties, then there's competitive issues," Steward said. "If there's just one or very few stations in a county, the prices may be higher, whereas, if there's more of a competitive market, that can help prices stay down."
Area county averages as of Monday were on either side of the state average.
Reno: $2.53
McPherson: $2.57
Harvey: $2.64
Sedgwick: $2.67
Kingman: $2.74
Pratt: $2.74
Stafford: $2.73
Rice: $2.67
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