Pump price stays up

COLUMBUS, Ohio – After dropping to around the $3 mark, prices at the pump jumped about 20 cents a gallon at the end of last week and remained high to start the work week.

The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in Columbus Monday morning was $3.25, 11 cents higher than a week ago.

The statewide average price was $3.24 in the survey from auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and WEX Inc. That’s a dime higher than at this time last week.

Thanks to healthy production, lower demand and other factors, some stations around the state had dropped below $3 briefly during the middle of last week. But the low price didn’t stick.

The national average Monday was $3.26, down a penny from last week.

The central Ohio average is 14 cents higher than a month ago, but 19 cents lower than a year ago.

ColumbusGasPrices.com reports pump prices as low as $3.04 in Westerville and as high as $3.29 throughout Columbus.