The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline spiked 9 cents a gallon over the past two weeks to $2.83.
Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday that the jump was driven primarily by rising crude oil costs. The current gas price is 37 cents above where it was a year ago.
The highest average price in the contiguous 48 states was $3.68 in the San Francisco Bay area. The lowest was $2.83 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The average price for diesel fuel rose six cents, to $2.83.
In Michigan, price per gallon rose 13.9 cents in the past week according to GasBuddy's daily survey of 177 gas outlets in Lansing.
According to GasBuddy historical data, gasoline prices on April 23 in Lansing have ranged widely over the last five years:
$2.53/g in 2017, $2.23/g in 2016, $2.57/g in 2015, $3.79/g in 2014 and $3.65/g in 2013.
"Gas price increases gripped 49 of the nation's 50 states again last week as oil prices continued their upward move to new multi-year highs. In addition, government data highlighted a new record for gasoline demand was breached last week, and we're not even into the summer driving season yet. The road head at the pump looks quite ominous if that demand number proves common in the coming weeks," said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy. "With President Trump's tweet last week targeting the price of oil, there may be additional scrutiny on oil prices in the coming weeks that bears monitoring. OPEC has been remarkably successful in better aligning supply to demand, draining the crude oil glut, and pushing oil prices to their highest since 2014. While refinery maintenance and the change to summer gasoline largely complete, oil prices remain one of the largest active drivers of gas prices now and likely in the weeks ahead. All signs point to some additional upward movement before prices peak and perhaps drop slightly around Memorial Day into the month of June- all certainly very contingent and subject to any changes from OPEC."
Areas near Lansing and their current gas price climate:
Ann Arbor- $2.88/g, up 9.2 cents per gallon from last week's $2.78/g.
Flint- $2.87/g, up 15.2 cents per gallon from last week's $2.72/g.
Grand Rapids- $2.90/g, up 14.4 cents per gallon from last week's $2.76/g.
