HARRISBURG, Pa. — The average price of gas in the Harrisburg area went up 1.1 cents per gallon last week, and is now at $3.59 per gallon, according to a report issued by the price-checking website Gasbuddy.com.
Gasbuddy surveyed 241 stations in the Harrisburg area to determine the average price.
The average price of gas in Harrisburg is 6.2 cents lower than it was a month ago, and 131.1 cents per gallon lower than this time a year ago, Gasbuddy said.
The national average price of diesel has fallen 3.4 cents in the last week and stands at $3.88 per gallon, Gasbuddy added.
The website's weekly survey determined the cheapest gas station in Harrisburg charged $3.28 per gallon on Sunday, while the most expensive station's price was $3.85 per gallon.
The lowest price in the state yesterday was $2.99/g while the highest was $4.29/g, a difference of $1.30 per gallon, according to Gasbuddy.
The national average price of gasoline has fallen 3.9 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.51/g today, Gasbuddy said.
The national average is down 1.7 cents per gallon from a month ago and stands 134.5 cents per gallon lower than a year ago, according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 11 million weekly price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country.
Gasbuddy also released surveys of the average price of gas in neighboring areas, including:
- Lancaster: $3.55 per gallon, down 4.3 cents from last week
- Reading: $3.61 per gallon, down 4.8 cents from last week
- York: $3.68 per gallon, unchanged from last week
"While the national average drifted lower last week as oil prices cooled off, the drop may be temporary," said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at Gasbuddy. "OPEC+ agreed Sunday to additional production cuts, while Saudi Arabia is going above and beyond and cutting July production.
"As a result, oil prices are likely to see upward pressure as global supplies, which have remained tight, promise to become even tighter as a result.
"Last time OPEC+ agreed to cut production, it led to a temporarily rally in the price of oil, but as global oil demand hasn't been as strong as expected, the cut failed to hold oil prices up. OPEC+ and Saudi Arabia are likely hoping that the rise in oil prices will stick longer this time, as the Saudi economy relies on oil prices north of $81 per barrel.
"It's likely that as a result of the production cut, oil prices could rally this week, pushing gasoline prices higher as early as mid-week. How long any rise in gas prices lasts is up in the air, but I do not yet believe motorists need to be worried. Any rise in average prices should be fairly small, and we're still extremely unlikely to make a run at record prices anytime soon."
