Press release from AAA:
Today’s national average price for a gallon of gasoline is $3.05, up 1 cent from last Monday. One year ago, the price was $1.98. The New York State average is $3.08 – up 1 cent from last Monday. A year ago, the NYS average was $2.18.
AAA Western and Central New York (AAA WCNY) reports the following averages:
- Batavia -- $3 (no change since last week)
- Buffalo -- $3 (no change since last week)
- Ithaca -- $3 (no change since last week)
- Rochester -- $3.03 (up 1 cent since last week)
- Rome -- $3.12 (up 3 cents since last week)
- Syracuse -- $3.04 (up 1 cent since last week)
- Watertown -- $3.13 (up 1 cent since last week)
Pump prices increased slightly over the past week as demand increased with Memorial Day travel. Motorists were able to avoid drastic holiday hikes at the pump following large increases in prices when the Colonial Pipeline was offline.
Analysts had predicted lower prices by Father’s Day, but demand continues to increase.
For the week ending May 21, demand jumped to 9.4 million barrels per day — the highest reported number since early March 2020 and up nearly 30 percent over the same week last year, indicating motorists are filling up more frequently.
Gasoline supply and demand levels are looking more like typical summer numbers as demand has steadily jumped week-over-week since the end of April and supply declines.
The increasing demand and decreasing supply combined with more expensive crude oil prices mean gas prices are likely to fluctuate throughout June.
From GasBuddy:
"With the summer driving season now officially begun, gas prices have clung to a $3 per gallon average on continued strong demand as Americans take to the roads amidst a continued economic recovery," said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy.
"Through Sunday, U.S. gasoline demand was very strong over the weekend, with Friday and Sunday both setting new Covid records for gasoline consumption for their respective day of week, according to GasBuddy data.
"While gasoline demand continues to recover, oil production has only slowly started gaining momentum after a very challenging 2020 forced oil companies to take several steps backward as prices and demand plummeted last year. While oil production is now moving in the right direction, we're in catch up mode to searing hot gasoline demand, and the imbalance has pushed prices up notably.
"For now, there's little chance of a backslide in gas prices, but a larger chance that this summer could boast near-record gasoline demand as Americans hit the road, but remain mostly stuck to the U.S. due to overseas travel challenges that persist."
