Worcester County gasoline prices up 1 cent following holiday weekend
Photo I WBJ File
Worcester County gas prices have changed very little.
Gasoline prices jumped across the Northeast as demand increased over Labor Day weekend.
Worcester County prices sat at $3.06 per gallon of regular unleaded on Tuesday, a small increase from last week’s prices of $3.05, according to data compiled by travel association AAA Northeast. A year ago, Worcester County prices reached $3.31 per gallon.
Nantucket County has the highest gas prices in the state at $4.46 per gallon, while Bristol County has the lowest at $2.97 per gallon.
Massachusetts average gas prices increased by a penny this week following a jump in prices across the Northeast, according to a Tuesday press release from AAA. High demand in the week leading up to Labor Day weekend, as well as an outage caused by flooding in the Midwest contributed to the increase.
Energy Information Administration data released in late August showed 9.4 million barrels a day of demand for the prior week which was the highest weekly demand reading since mid-June. Domestic gasoline inventories on the other hand fell to the lowest reading of the year at 222.3 million barrels, led by a 1.9 million barrel drop in the Northeast.
More contributing factors to the jump in pricing include the cost of oil that has climbed and increased attacks in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Price spikes also occurred through the dip in refinery output that impacted oil and gas markets across the country due to the severe flooding two weeks ago in Whiting, Indiana.
“It’s not surprising for pump prices to climb ahead of a busy holiday weekend, especially with strong demand and production issues at a core refinery that serves a large portion of the country,” Mark Schieldrop, senior spokesperson for AAA Northeast, said in the press release.
Massachusetts gas prices on Tuesday are the same as a month ago and 25 cents lower than this day last year. Massachusetts’ average gas price is 11 cents lower than the national average.
The national average sat at $3.18 per gallon on Tuesday, which is 3 cents higher than a month ago, yet 15 cents lower than this day last year.
Jill McSorley is an editorial intern for the Worcester Business Journal. She is a student at Assumption University studying communications and media, writing, and marketing.
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