Area average gas prices
Tuesday: $3.86
One week ago: $3.65
One month ago: $3.66
One year ago: $3.51
Gasoline prices in southwest Ohio broke the $4 level Tuesday as the Midwest continued to see some of the highest gas prices in the nation.
Four service stations in the Dayton area were charging between $4.01 and $4.09 a gallon for regular-grade gas as of Tuesday afternoon, according to DaytonGasPrices.com, a website that uses volunteer spotters to monitor area gas prices.
In Hamilton County, one station in Madiera was charging $4.29 for a gallon of regular early Tuesday afternoon. Other stations in Butler and Warren counties were charging $3.68 to $4.09 a gallon. Similar prices were found in Clark and Champaign counties.
The average price of gas in southwestern Ohio was in the neighborhood of $3.86 a gallon Tuesday, about 22 cents more than the national average. Gasoline market analysts blamed refinery problems for the latest spike.
“One thing remains the same throughout the United States, and that is we’re still reliant on oil refineries to process crude oil into gasoline,” said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com, the parent of DaytonGasPrices and CincyGasPrices.com. “When they go partially offline, whether expected or unexpected, there’s going to be tightness in gasoline supply, and that has an almost immediate impact at the gas pump.”
The Midwest is bearing the brunt of it,” said Gregg Laskoski, another senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com. “In Ohio, we saw average cost of gasoline rise 18 cents in the past week,” he said.
Laskoski said the latest run-up started Friday, about the same time a “rumor” surfaced that a refinery in the Great Lakes region had to go on the expensive open market to purchase fuel to process into gasoline, Laskoski said.
Such moves can prompt oil producers to seek top dollar for its oil. The refinery passes on those higher costs to the wholesaler, who passes them on down the line to the retailer and the customer.
As of Tuesday, Ohio had the 11th highest average price in the nation, Laskoski said. Illinois led the contiguous U.S. with an average price of $4.12 a gallon.
No one can accurately predict when prices will come down, Laskoski said, “but I suspect it will be a matter of days, not weeks.”
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