COLUMBUS – Days after gasoline prices reached their highest levels of the year, relief may be on the way.
Analysts at GasBuddy.com say wholesale prices in the Midwest have been dropping and the blogging site predicts a 15-to-30-cent decline in next two weeks.
Gas prices in the Midwest are rivaling averages typically experienced by drivers on West Coast due to planned and unplanned refinery maintenance, combined with healthy demand for gasoline, according to analysts at the AAA.
Drivers in Ohio have felt the squeeze more than most, with only motorists in California, Michigan and Hawaii paying more per gallon that Ohio’s $2.68. Ohioans have also suffered the second-largest two-week price increase, 21 cents (see below).
A daily survey from the auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and WEX, Inc., shows the average retail price in Columbus dropped 5 cents from Monday to midweek but, at $2.69 a gallon, was still more than 30 cents higher than the national average.
The auto club says the national average price of gas reached a new high for the year over the weekend and Monday’s average of $2.38 per gallon is the most expensive average since September 2015.
Supply has been disrupted by the recent shutdown of a segment of a Wisconsin pipeline, which may be offline for several weeks, and “operational challenges” refineries in Detroit and Joliet, Ill.