NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Shawn Steward with AAA Kansas said Friday that prices at the pump still haven't had much movement in the past few weeks.
"We're at $3.25 a gallon statewide average today," Steward said. "That's really about the same as it's been for the past couple of months. There's been very little fluctuation here statewide. Pretty much the same story at the national level. The national price average is $3.56 a gallon, which is up three cents from last week.
Reno County's average price is one of the lowest in the state at $3.10 a gallon. Area prices are as follows:
McPherson: $3.12
Harvey: $3.15
Sedgwick: $3.34
Kingman: $3.20
Pratt: $3.27
Stafford: $3.26
Rice: $3.23
"Here in Kansas, we're $1.17 less than we were a year ago, when we were at $4.42," Steward said. "We're currently 10th cheapest in the U.S., despite a pretty big cratering in gas demand in the days following the July 4th holiday. We were down almost a million barrels per day in terms of demand, but, countering that, oil prices have been up pretty significantly. They've moved from the upper 60s to the mid 70s per barrel. We're at about 76 or 77 dollars per barrel today."
More than half of the price of a gallon of gas at the pump, on average, is controlled by the underlying price of the crude oil from which it is refined, so that leaves some concern as those prices are rising.
"Although lower gas demand typically pushes pump prices lower, these rising oil prices that we're seeing now have kept prices stable and given them a little bit of an increase on the national. If those oil prices continue to rise, we could see higher prices at the pump."
Oil prices have increased this week due to rising market optimism that fewer interest rate hikes may be on the horizon.
CLICK HERE to download the Hutch Post mobile app.
CLICK HERE to sign up for the daily Hutch Post email news update.