“We think the national peak for gas will about $3 a gallon,” said Gregg Laskoski, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy, which tracks data on prices in the region.
Several factors took the air out of prices. On the supply side, American and Canadian companies were using techniques like fracking to pump oil out of places that had never produced it before. On the demand side, global growth was weak.
Most crucially, faced with falling prices, Saudi Arabia kept on pumping petroleum. For fracking companies whose business depended on high prices, falling prices have been a potentially mortal threat.
The equation changed at the end of January: prices started going back up. American demand picked up, but production did not. That raised the price of oil, which typically accounts for most of the cost of gasoline.
Also pushing up prices: Refineries shut for maintenance and to switch over to production of the more expensive, lower-pollution gasoline used in the summer.
When prices jump, it can crimp spending. Roughly 35 percent of people who stop for gas also go into the convenience store, about one-third of them buying at least a snack, according to the National Association of Convenience Stores. When prices are high, purchases at those stores go down.
But prices are only edging up, said Brian Milne, energy editor for Schneider Electric, a French-based global energy management company: Futures market traders are pricing gasoline for June delivery at about 30 cents a gallon more than now.
As gas prices start their climb, local residents are again considering changes to their driving habits.
Gary Claypoole, of West Chester Twp., said rewards systems like Kroger Fuel Points are even more valuable when gas prices are higher.
“We just think twice about which car we take. This car gets much better gas mileage than our other one,” he said as he filled up his gas tank Friday.
Staff Writer Ellen Hadley contributed to this report.
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