COLUMBUS – Ohio motorists are enjoying some of the cheapest gasoline in the nation as prices at the pump nationwide level out for the first time in more than two weeks.
According to the auto club AAA, the national gas price average appears to be leveling out despite Hurricane Irma making landfall in the southeast over the weekend. Holding steady for five days at $2.67, today’s national gas price average is just three cents more expensive on the week.
The average price in Columbus Monday morning was $2.43 a gallon, 10 cents cheaper than a week ago, according to a daily survey from the AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and WEX, Inc.
The statewide average price of $2.48 was 13 cents higher than a month ago, before Hurricanes Harvey and Irma made landfall in the South, but gas in Ohio is still cheaper than all but seven other states
At the same time, drivers in Indiana and Michigan saw some of the largest price increases in the nation.
Analysts say volatility in the Great Lakes region and the Midwest stems mostly from Hurricane Harvey’s impact on gasoline supply distribution and a drop in the region’s supply of gasoline.
Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday that her biweekly survey recorded the biggest price nationwide hike since 2011. But she says wholesale prices have started to decline since refineries came back online and she expects prices at the pump will follow.