COLUMBUS – Gas prices in Columbus are higher for the fifth week in a row, mirroring a trend seen nationwide.
The average price Monday morning was $2.34 a gallon, 13 cents higher than on Feb. 11, according to a daily survey by the auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and WEX, Inc.
The nationwide average price rose 10 cents during the same period, according to a survey by oil industry analyst Trilby Lundberg.
“Prices have been hiking for six weeks now, a total of 13 cents, but it doesn’t feel awfully high for motorists because the average is still 15 cents lower than it was one year ago,” she said.
Lundberg says the increase is due to a rise in crude oil costs of about the same amount.
Price increases in the Great Lakes and Midwest region are also partly due to ongoing refinery maintenance and tighter inventories, auto club anaysts said.
An 8-cent increase in the national average in the last week followed the largest one-week increase at the national level so far this year, according to the AAA.