Georgia Gas Price Average up at the Pump

AAA reports that the  Georgia gas price average increased at the pump compared to a week ago. Georgia drivers are paying an average price of $3.16 per gallon for regular unleaded gasoline (subject to change overnight). Monday’s state average is 13 cents more than a week ago, 19 cents more than a month ago, and 6 cents less than this time last year. It now costs an average of $47.40 to fill a 15-gallon tank of regular gasoline. Georgians are now paying almost $1 less to fill up at the pump compared to a year ago. “Georgians continue to take a punch at the pumps,” said Montrae Waiters, AAA-The Auto Club Group spokeswoman. “The rise in crude oil prices continues to be the major culprit for higher prices in Georgia. Unfortunately, we cannot predict how high gas prices will rise this week.” The most expensive Georgia metro market is Savannah at $3.27 and the least expensive Georgia metro market is Catoosa-Dade-Walker at $3.05. Since last Monday, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline has increased by 9 cents to $3.27 (subject to change overnight). A significant contributor is a shutdown at the large BP-Whiting refinery in Indiana, which has been offline for more than two weeks due to a power outage.  The refinery processes 435,000 barrels of crude per day, and the shutdown has caused prices throughout the Midwest to climb, pushing the national average higher as well. According to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas demand decreased from 8.81 to 8.17 million barrels a day last week. Total domestic gasoline stocks declined by 3.7 million barrels to 247.3 million barrels. Lower gas demand would typically push pump prices down, but fluctuating oil prices and tight gas supply have increased prices.