Area gas prices start slowly creeping up

While Tacoma gas prices are 74.2 cents lower than this time a year ago, and 12 cents lower than a month ago, average prices at local pumps were up a penny over last week, according to GasBuddy.com.

“We knew it was inevitable. The 8-month decline in prices at the pump that brought the national average as low as $1.67 has come to an end,” said Gregg Laskoski, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy in Monday’s weekly review of prices nationwide. “The ‘plateau’ or pause in price movement is now behind us as we’ve had a full week in which the national average has climbed steadily. Some areas such as Southern California are weathering significantly higher increases as their refineries transition earlier from ‘winter blend’ to ‘summer blend’ production, while Great Lakes states suffer from refinery run cuts. As expected, this is the beginning of the seasonal price climb and we’ll have to wait and see if last week’s rally for crude gains momentum to underscore the trend.”

On Monday, average pump prices per gallon at $2.057 and rising, while the state average was at $2.03. The lowest price in Tacoma was the local Costco and the Arco station at Sprague Avenue and 11th Street, both stations at $1.75, according to tacomagasprices.com. In Olympia, the lowest price was at the Arco station at Martin Way East and Nisqually Cutoff at $1.77 a gallon. Seattle’s average price was $2.10 a gallon.

This story was originally published February 29, 2016 at 7:23 PM with the headline "Area gas prices start slowly creeping up."