According to a press release from Montrae Waiters, spokeswoman for AAA – The Auto Club Group, Georgia prices at the pump have risen seven cents over the past week.

According to the press release:

Georgia motorists are now paying an average price of $2.23 per gallon for regular unleaded gasoline. Monday’s state average is 7 cents more than a week ago, 20 cents more than last month, and 18 cents less than this time last year.

“Gas prices are rising as supply tightens and crude oil gets more expensive,” said Montrae Waiters, spokeswoman, AAA – The Auto Club Group. “If crude prices continue to sustain prices above $50 per barrel alongside higher refinery utilization rates and demand, drivers could see pump prices continue to climb through the week.”

Why are prices rising?

According to AAA:

Since Monday, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline has increased by 7 cents to $2.38. Pump prices have increased while gas demand remains low at 7.53 million barrels a day and total refinery utilization increased from 80.7 percent to 82 percent in the latest weekly report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

At the close of last Thursday’s formal trading session, WTI increased by 66 cents to settle at $53.57. Crude prices continue to increase this week due to market optimism that coronavirus vaccines will help crude demand recover this year. Additionally, EIA’s new weekly report helped bolster prices, detailing that total domestic crude inventories declined by 3.2 million barrels to 482.2 million barrels last week.

Cobb County gasoline prices

The average price in Cobb County is $2.199 this morning, about three cents below the statewide average. 

It is always possible to find lower gas prices than the average by comparison shopping or using tools like http://gasbuddy.com.

How does AAA determine gas prices?

AAA explains it’s methodology for collecting data on gasoline prices at the pump as follows:

AAA updates fuel price averages daily atwww.GasPrices.AAA.com. Every day up to 130,000 stations are surveyed based on credit card swipes and direct feeds in cooperation with the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) and Wright Express for unmatched statistical reliability. All average retail prices in this report are for a gallon of regular, unleaded gasoline.