Judy Ackerson pumps gas at the Pilot on Route 315 while talking with her friend Joann DeStefano in this December 2014 file photo. According to AAA, COVID vaccine optimism and a jump in gasoline demand have forced gas prices up nationally, including in our area.
AP file photo
If you noticed that filling your tank was a little more expensive last week, you might be surprised at one of the suspected reasons: COVID vaccine optimism.
That’s according to AAA, whose weekly Gas Watch report also cited a jump in demand ahead of the year-end holidays.
Friday’s national gas price average was $2.21 per gallon, the organization said. That’s up six cents in the last week, up nine cents in the last month, but down 34 cents from this time last year.
For Pennsylvania as a whole the week-over-week average remained at $2.52, although the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton/Hazleton region average did push up a penny, from $2.46 to $2.47. The Bloomsburg/Berwick area average fell by a penny, from $2.41 to $2.40 per gallon.
But prices are still down noticeably year-over-year. One year ago at this time drivers were paying on average $2.55 nationally, $2.75 across Pennsylvania, $2.76 in our region and $2.77 in Bloomsburg/Berwick.
Underlying last week’s upward shifts in prices at the pump was an increase in the cost of crude oil.
At the close of NYMEX trading Friday, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil settled at $49.10 per barrel, $2.53 higher than last Friday’s close, AAA pointed out, citing “a weak dollar and increasing investment based on market optimism that coronavirus vaccines will help crude oil demand recover in 2021.”
Continued positive news about the vaccines will continue contributing to an increase in the domestic price of crude, the group added.
“Local drivers could see an increase at the pump ahead of the holidays as a result of an increase in demand,” said Jana L. Tidwell, manager of Public and Government Affairs for AAA Mid-Atlantic. “Higher crude prices have also helped to lift pump prices, since the price of oil makes up over half of the cost of gasoline.”
AAA reports reflect actual prices from credit card transactions at more than 100,000 gas stations in the U.S., the group says.
