COLUMBUS – Columbus motorists were enjoying the return of reasonably priced gasoline after a spike caused by refinery problems.
The average retail price of regular gas in central Ohio was $2.34 Monday morning, 31 cents less expensive than a week earlier, according to a daily survey from the AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and WEX, Inc.
The price was 23 cents cheaper than the average last Wednesday, a day after BP announced that its Whiting, Ind., facility had reopened. The sudden shutdown of the crude-oil distillation unit – the largest in the Midwest – on Aug. 8 sent retail prices in Ohio and the rest of the Great Lakes region soaring.
The average prices in Columbus and Ohio were well below the nationwide average price of $2.47, which was 13 cents cheaper than on Aug. 24.
The auto club says U.S. average gas prices have dropped 14 days in a row.