Gas prices up on the week, remain down over the year

Gas prices rose 0.5 cents on Monday over Sunday’s average price, settling at $2.322 per gallon.

The average price in Pierce County was ahead for the week, up 2.7 cents per gallon, and up 26.5 cents from last month’s average of $2.051, according to the monitoring service GasBuddy.com.

Still, Monday’s price was down 45.7 cents per gallon from last year’s average price for the day one year ago, at $2.773 per gallon.

Less expensive gasoline was available in the area on Monday, reported tacomagasprices.com. The least expensive gas available in Pierce County, at $2.06 per gallon, could be found at three outlets — Costco, QFC and APP located in central Tacoma, Northeast Tacoma and South Tacoma respectively.

In Olympia, two Fast Fuel locations, one on Thurston Avenue Northeast and another on Lilly Road, were the cheapest at $2.04 a gallon on Monday, according to washingtongasprices.com.

The national average has increased 29.5 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 38.7 cents per gallon lower than this day one year ago. Statewide, the average price of $2.28 per gallon was up 4.2 cents over the week.

“The rise in gasoline prices comes as refinery maintenance begins kicking into high gear,” said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy, in a company release. “This year’s jump thus far has seen average prices remain well below year-ago levels across much of the nation. As crude oil prices fell gently last week back under $40 per barrel, motorists shouldn’t necessarily expect the worst increases to be over just yet. Until the bulk of refinery maintenance season wraps up in late May, we likely won’t see the lower oil prices immediately bring relief to the pump as oil and gasoline inventories continue to move in the opposite direction.”

This story was originally published March 28, 2016 at 3:07 PM with the headline "Gas prices up on the week, remain down over the year."