NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON — There hasn't been much change in the past week in gas prices, according to Shawn Steward with AAA Kansas.
"We have settled in a little bit, it seems like, in the past couple of weeks," Steward said. "Haven't seen any big increases, but, from a month ago, we're up here in Kansas, a little more than 20 cents a gallon. We're at $3.17 a gallon on average across the state. The good news is, it's 39 cents lower than the national average and seventh cheapest in the nation."
The fundamentals suggest that we may be looking at increases going forward, however.
"We're moving into, seasonally, typically a higher demand time of the year where more people are out driving," Steward said. "We're headed toward summer driving season and the demand is likely going to be increasing as we head into summer. We've seen some issues on the crude oil market, OPEC production limits, geopolitical issues with Russia, tensions in the Middle East."
Brent Crude was over $89 a barrel as of Thursday morning.
"It's quite a bit higher than we were earlier this year," Steward said. "We've seen that jump here in the past few weeks."
According to Marketwatch.com, shares of Marathon Petroleum are up 45% year to date, while Valero and Phillips 66 are up 39% and 30%, respectively.