The average price of gasoline across South Central Ohio is five cents lower this week at $3.216 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.

This week’s average prices: South Central Ohio Average: $3.216

Average price during the week of October 18, 2021 $3.260

Average price during the week of October 26, 2020 $2.111

The average price of unleaded self-serve gasoline in various areas:

$3.215 Athens

$3.186 Chillicothe

$3.089 Columbiana

$3.253 East Liverpool

$3.290 Gallipolis

$3.162 Hillsboro

$3.295 Ironton

$3.154 Jackson

$3.168 Logan

$3.267 Marietta

$3.279 Portsmouth

$3.221 Steubenville

$3.177 Washington Court House

$3.273 Waverly

Trend Analysis:

The recent national surge in the price of gas may seem spooky this Halloween, but it’s not frightening people away from driving as demand continues to rise. The national average price for a gallon of gasoline rose six cents over the past week to hit $3.38. The pump price has gone up every day in the past 27 days, adding approximately 20 cents to the cost of a gallon of gas. The last time prices were this high was September 2014.

The recent rise in the pump price is due to higher demand coupled with a decline in stocks and elevated crude prices. Since the cost of oil accounts for more than half of the pump price, consumers will likely be paying more as long as crude prices remain high.

At the close of Friday’s formal trading session, West Texas Intermediate increased by $1.26 to settle at $83.76. Crude prices increased overall after EIA’s weekly report revealed that total domestic crude inventories decreased slightly to 426.5 million barrels. Global oil production is still below pre-pandemic levels and the current storage level is approximately 13 percent lower than the level at this same time last year.

According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), total domestic gasoline stocks decreased by 5.4 million barrels to 217.7 million barrels last week. However, gasoline demand increased from 9.19 million barrels per day to 9.63 million barrels per day.

Motorists can find current gas prices nationwide, statewide, and countywide at GasPrices.AAA.com.

AAA East Central is a not-for-profit association with 72 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.