COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – As a refinery issue in Illinois appears to be in the rearview mirror, gas prices in Columbus followed suit by dropping over 15 cents per gallon last week.
According to GasBuddy’s survey of 500 stations in the Columbus area, the average price of gasoline decreased by 15.3 cents, more than erasing last week’s jump, to $3.46 per gallon. The current price is 3.8 cents per gallon lower than one month ago but just 0.4 cents lower per gallon higher than this time one year ago.
In Ohio, the average price of gas also dropped by 13 cents per gallon, from $3.56 per gallon to $3.43 per gallon.
The cheapest gas station in the Columbus area was priced at $3.09 a gallon, while the most expensive was $3.69, a difference of 60 cents per gallon. Nationally, gas prices also fell slightly by 3.5 cents per gallon to reach $3.44.
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said that refinery issues out of Joliet, IL are fading away as the restart process begins but other factors to keep an eye on are the weather in Florida and tensions in the Middle East.
“Tropical Storm Debby drops buckets of rain on Florida and the Southeast, (but) it poses low risk to refineries or refined product pipelines, so the storm is not a major concern,” De Haan said. “With the Middle East on alert after Israel's attacks on Hamas and Hezbollah, there could be an impact on oil prices; however, with an inability to predict the outcome, I for now expect gasoline prices in most states to gently decline in the week ahead, with the Middle East situation being a wildcard."
