Gas Prices Expected to Fluctuate Throughout February

Posted on February 6, 2019
Author Jacque Ryan, WKVI

Hoosier drivers can expect to see gas prices continue to fluctuate during the month of February. GasBuddy’s Head of Petroleum Analysis Patrick DeHaan said drivers probably noticed higher prices starting on Monday of this week.

 “A lot of stations raised their prices to $2.39 a gallon which is likely in response to the price of oil which has been slowly creeping up and now it stands at about $55 a barrel compared to $43 a barrel on Christmas Eve.”

DeHaan explained that there are few other factors aside from the price of oil that can affect what you pay at pump, “We’re starting to see refineries do seasonal maintenance.”

He continued, “We also saw a couple kinks, you could them, last week as a result of the very cold weather so some of those kinks and maintenance are impacting prices to a slight degree.”

According to DeHaan, it’s likely that prices will see a slight decrease before they climb back up again.

He said “Over the next three to five days, prices should start trickling back down. But overall, buckle up, in the next few weeks we’ll likely continue to see gas prices working their way up and that will probably continue most of the spring.”

He noted that over the last decade, national gas prices have typically gone up an average of about 25 cents in the 10 weeks following Valentine’s Day.

He said while that partially has to do refinery maintenance season, it’s also because of the transition from cold weather gasoline to warm weather gasoline that begins in late February and early March.

DeHaan shared why motorists will see a steady increase in prices leading into the spring.

“What you tend to see in the late winter is that we essentially go from a clearance sale of winter gasoline that has to be purged from the system to the more expensive summer gasoline in which supply is generally quite tight to start the season.”

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