Sacramento-area gas prices rising, but at a slow pace

Ever so slowly, Sacramento gas prices are rising. But local motorists are catching a break compared with other parts of the nation.

The average retail price of gasoline in the Sacramento area rose 1.8 cents over the past week to $2.74 a gallon, according to Monday’s report by national gas price tracker GasBuddy.com.

The at-the-pump cost of fuel has edged up a relatively small 6.1 cents over the past month, the run-up to the summer driving season. By comparison, the current average price of gasoline is area is 56.2 cents lower than it was one year ago.

Nationally, the price of gas fell an average 2.4 cents over the past week to $2.38 a gallon, up nearly 17 cents from last month but 41.8 cents lower than one year ago. The U.S. average has been pushed higher lately by fuel cost spikes in the Midwest/Great Lakes regions.

“Average gas prices in Michigan are up 50 cents in the last month, followed by Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin, who have seen a jump of over 30 cents in a month, largely at the hands of various refinery woes and insatiable demand for gasoline,” said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy. “However, as kinks are ironed out and production of gasoline ramps up, we expect gasoline prices to cool in the next few weeks in much of the country…”

This story was originally published June 13, 2016 at 2:03 PM with the headline "Sacramento-area gas prices rising, but at a slow pace."