Gas prices in South Central Ohio are up by a penny this week to $2.316 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.

Great Lakes and Central states’ gas prices are showing signs of volatility. On the week, the majority of the states saw prices decrease, but Ohio (+4 cents) is among the handful of states that are paying more compared to last week. Despite Ohio’s gas price increase, the state remains in the nation’s top 10 least expensive markets.

Gasoline inventories continue to build week over week since the start of the year. According to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest report, inventories built by 740,000 barrels to total at 58.3 million barrels. Inventories are just 1.8 million below last year this week.

Today’s average prices: South Central Ohio Average $2.316

Average price during the week of Feb. 20, 2018 $2.304

Average price during the week of Feb. 27, 2017 $2.178

Here is the price per gallon of unleaded self-serve gasoline in various areas:

$2.454 Athens

$2.297 Chillicothe

$2.187 Columbiana

$2.383 East Liverpool

$2.399 Gallipolis

$2.383 Hillsboro

$2.229 Ironton

$2.268 Jackson

$2.242 Logan

$2.385 Marietta

$2.301 Portsmouth

$2.328 Steubenville

$2.306 Washington Court House

$2.265 Waverly

On the National Front

At $2.52, the national gas price average is the cheapest pump price seen this month. The national gas price average for the month of February is $2.56, which is 29-cents more expensive than the $2.28 average of February 2017. On the week, gas prices decreased 1 cent.

At the close of Friday’s formal trading session on the NYMEX, West Texas Intermediate increased 78 cents to settle at $63.55. Oil prices are likely to continue rebounding this week after the EIA’s latest petroleum report revealed that U.S. crude inventories unexpectedly fell by 1.6 million barrels. The drop gave some market observers hope that global demand growth this year may help drain global inventories further, even with U.S. production continuing to grow.

EIA’s report also found that U.S. domestic crude production and exports remain high, hitting 10.270 million b/d and 2.04 million b/d respectively. A steady increase in crude oil exports underscores that growth in domestic production has led to the U.S. ability to meet growth in global appetite for oil. The growth and price gains for crude since the end of last year have helped to drive additional investment in drilling activity in the U.S., which currently has 799 active oil rigs, according to Baker Hughes, Inc.

Motorists can find current gas prices at GasPrices.AAA.com.

AAA East Central is a not-for-profit association with 81 local offices in Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia serving 2.7 million members. News releases are available at news.eastcentral.aaa.com. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.