By Jake Fogal
BLOOMINGTON – Illinois gas prices are unchanged over this past week, averaging $4.99 a gallon.
“After several weeks of soaring gas prices, last week saw prices nationally slow down ahead of Memorial Day, but I’m afraid the good news ends there,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.
According to GasBuddy’s daily survey of over 43-hundred stations in Illinois, prices in the state are 58 cents higher than a month ago.
The cheapest station in Illinois is priced at $4.39 while the most expensive is $6.29.
The national average inched up a penny in the last week, averaging $4.60 a gallon.
“While gasoline demand has been seasonally soft, the large decline in refining capacity over the last few years has meant that refiners are struggling to produce even lower amounts of refined products. This has led inventories to struggle to see any gains, boosting concern that they won’t be able to catch up. coupled with continued talk that the EU is still working sanctioning Russian oil, even through Hungary is a hold out, oil marks are quite on edge. As a result of the continued decline in gasoline inventories in recent weeks, wholesale gas prices surged last week, which will likely boost prices at the pump in short order. Motorists in the Great Lakes could see prices jump early in the week to new record highs, and the rest of the nation will follow. Odds are rising that we’ll eventually see the national average reach that dreaded $5 per gallon.”
Jake Fogal can be reached at [email protected].
