ST. PETERSBURG, Fla — According to a new report, the nation's average gas price increased this week.
Data collected by GasBuddy shows an increase of 1.8 cents from a week ago, bringing the national average to $3.41 per gallon. In addition, the national average is up 15.1 cents from October and it's $1.31 per gallon higher than it was at this time last year.
"Last week saw oil prices briefly fall back under $80 for the first time in weeks," Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, said in a news release. "While it wasn’t enough to provide much relief last week, we should see small declines this week in a majority of the country, thanks to the corresponding drop in wholesale gasoline prices."
The city of Tampa can slightly rejoice in that statement. On Oct. 29, the average gas price was $3.28 per gallon. Today, the average sits at $3.21 per gallon.
"With President Biden still mulling over options to help push gas prices down, we could continue to see some volatility in oil prices," De Haan said. "I don’t immediately see a large decline or surge coming in the run up to Thanksgiving, but U.S. gasoline demand does remain strong. Levels are currently rivaling September demand, so we know high prices aren’t significantly curbing consumption."
States that see the lowest average gas prices include Oklahoma at $3 per gallon, Arkansas and Texas both at $3.06 per gallon.
On the other hand, states that are seeing high-priced gas include California at $4.60 per gallon, Hawaii at $4.27 per gallon and Nevada at $3.94 per gallon.
The information derives from more than 11 million individual gas price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the United States.