Gas prices on rise again in Kentucky

Have been rising since July 4th holiday

(Story Courtesy of Kentucky Today)

FRANKFORT, Ky. (KT) – Gas prices in Kentucky, which had dropped just in time for the July 4 holiday weekend, have now rebounded to the highest level in three weeks, according to GasBuddy, a crowd-sourced website and mobile app dedicated to has and diesel prices across the U.S. and Canada.

As of Monday afternoon, the statewide average in Kentucky was $3.30 per gallon for regular gas.  That is up seven cents from last week, but still down 11 cents from a month ago, and 90 cents lower than on this date last year.

It’s a similar story nationwide, as the U.S. average stood at $3.53 per gallon, up a penny from last week, but two cents less than last month and a significant 98 cents less than a year ago.

“With oil prices rising to $75 per barrel last week, the highest level in months, the national average price of gasoline saw similar upward pressure, with a little over half of the nation’s states seeing gas prices rise last week,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.  “While the price increases could continue this week, I would expect them to be fairly mild, with the national average likely staying in the $3.50-$3.60 range that we’ve been stuck in since April for the coming week and likely into next week as well.”

Oil markets look to build on three straight weeks of increases, with the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil rallying to its highest level since the spring to close last week, he pointed out.  While oil prices rallied on outages from producer Libya, much of the affected production has gotten back online.   However, with Saudi Arabia’s extension of its July production cut into August, markets have found some strength in recent days.

Still, in Monday trading, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down 96 cents to $74.46 per barrel, just over $1 higher than last Monday.  Brent crude oil was also seen declining, losing 91 cents to $78.96 after briefly reaching $80 last week, but is still up a dollar from last Monday’s $77.80 per barrel level.  Early reports out of China also indicate a slower-than-expected economy, with GDP up just over 6%, below the expectations of a growth rate of over 7%.