NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON — Shawn Steward with AAA Kansas sees the price at the pump going up, but it's still not what last year was.
"Over the last few weeks, we've seen an increase in gas prices," Steward said Friday. "Crude oil rose pretty significantly after OPEC announced its production cut plans. Right now, in Kansas, we're at $3.42 a gallon. That's up 10 cents from a week ago."
"We're up 38 cents from where we were a month ago," Steward said. "Putting it in perspective, we're 26 cents less than the $3.68 per gallon national average and the Sunflower State currently is the 11th lowest average in the nation."
Warmer weather traditionally puts upward pressure on prices.
"The indicators have really been all over the map," Steward said. "Typically, we're starting to get into a more high demand period, but in the last week, we saw a dip in demand. We also saw a dip in oil prices, that fell back into the upper seventies per barrel. They had been above 80. Right now, there's still some concerns on the global crude oil market about interest rate increases and a recession."
It's also the time of the year when refineries finish the transition between refining winter and summer blend gasoline. The summer blend is a little more expensive to make and that cost is passed all along the line and eventually to the consumer at the pump.