Syracuse, NY – The bump-up in gasoline prices that did not materialize for Memorial Day appears to be on the horizon for the Fourth of July. The average price of a gallon of unleaded gas rose 1.1 cents in the Syracuse area over the past week, landing at $2.79 a gallon on Sunday, the SyracuseGasPrices.com monitoring service reported this morning....
Syracuse, NY – The bump-up in gasoline prices that did not materialize for Memorial Day appears to be on the horizon for the Fourth of July.
The average price of a gallon of unleaded gas rose 1.1 cents in the Syracuse area over the past week, landing at $2.79 a gallon on Sunday, the SyracuseGasPrices.com monitoring service reported this morning.
The AAA motor club’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report pegged the local average at $2.807 a gallon this morning, up 1.7 cents from last Monday.
The price hike is the first after six weeks of steady decline from more than $3.02 a gallon, Syracuse.com records show.
Several factors are at play, said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com, which runs SyracuseGasPrices.com.
The stock market has stabilized and begun creeping upward after a steep correction that made investors doubt the direction of the economy, DeHaan said. The increased confidence is translating into anticipation that demand for gas will rise, too, he said.
The return of the summer driving season and its typical increased demand for gas also is also driving prices up, he said.
“Minor refinery issues” also are a factor, he said.
Still, the increase should not be severe and summer price probably won't climb past $2.90 a gallon around Syracuse, DeHaan said.
Refinery capacity remains high and OPEC members seem content to supply oil at current crude prices, he said. The BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico also is not an issue, he said – the oil from that well had not entered the refinery stream and was not being counted on, so its absence is not having an impact.
Follow this link to Syracuse.com's map of the lowest gas prices in the Syracuse area.