Gas prices up 3.4 cents in the last week
Filling your tank will lighten your pockets a bit more this week as gas prices in metro Atlanta continue to climb. Pump prices have risen 3.4 cents in the last week — to an average of $3.48 a gallon on Sunday.
Analysts point to three main reasons for the uptick: a shutdown of multiple refineries across the U.S.; the continuing economic turmoil in Europe, and Iran’s threat to close the Strait of Hormuz.
“Although oil prices remain near $100 a barrel, retail gas prices continue to rise at a steady pace,” said Jessica Brady, AAA spokeswoman. “Concerns of dwindling supplies from refinery shutdowns in the U.S., at a time when gas demand is starting to improve are driving pump prices higher.” She said consumers are likely to see gas prices increase again this week.
Prices Sunday were 51.5 cents per gallon higher than the same day a year ago and are 28.9 cents per gallon higher than a month ago, according to GasBuddy.com Senior Petroleum Analyst Patrick DeHaan.
“We continue to also watch how Iran responds to EU sanctions- there are some concerns that they may cut oil to the European region before the sanctions are to take effect to cause these countries hardship when they can’t find new sources of oil quickly enough. That in itself could draw crude oil prices higher quickly at a moments notice,” DeHaan said.
Meanwhile, lower than average prices have been spotted throughout metro Atlanta. GasBuddy.com reports regular unleaded gas for $3.34 at Home Depot, 3355 N. Cobb Pkwy near Acworth; $3.35 at an Ingles at 3701 Walt Stephens Rd & Speer Rd. in Stockbridge, and $3.35 at a Marathon at 326 Cherokee St & Timber Lake Rd in Kennesaw.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
122 comments Add your comment
TallaDawg
January 30th, 2012
2:26 pm
“The greens are really pink on the inside.” I hope I am missing something, because I hope that is not an outdated, ill-informed and inane comparison of environmentalism being communist. If that is the point, you are too old or too ignorant to matter.
TallaDawg
January 30th, 2012
2:29 pm
UGA1999 – 1 : There is no competition in the oil market. (Read my comment)
2: There also is a point at which “cheap” oil is not worth the externalities that it costs. It is not cheap to take the simple way out.
KSU Alum
January 30th, 2012
2:29 pm
These refinery closures don’t help, particularly since we aren’t opening any new refineries to replace the production capacity of the ones that are shutting down (or if we ARE opening new refineries, it is at a pace that will not help relieve pressure at the pump any time soon). This is what I see as the biggest contributor to higher prices here. We have plenty of oil, but we are actively reducing our domestic capacity to refine that oil into usable products, gasoline being the primary one. Thus, our domestic gas supply is getting smaller, increasing prices.
Aldo Raine
January 30th, 2012
2:30 pm
And I suppose the veto of the Keystone pipeline wasn’t O’s fault either!
WithAGrainOfSalt
January 30th, 2012
2:32 pm
Too bad Bachman dropped out of race. Didn’t she promise $2 gas?
Megawatt
January 30th, 2012
2:33 pm
TallaDawg : Ouch, but yes, your missing somthing allright.
UGA 1999
January 30th, 2012
2:34 pm
Talladawg…Again you are wrong. Obama refuses to put the United States in a place where we can compete globally with the middle east for oil resources.
Bruce
January 30th, 2012
2:34 pm
It is funny to me how all these people are opposed to any type of oil drilling and pipelines in the US but they do not seem to mind about the drilling & pipelines in other countries. Can’t have it both ways.
Fred
January 30th, 2012
2:37 pm
And it’s also no surprise that oil company profits remain at record highs.
Let’s cut their taxes and subsidize them more………
franklamar
January 30th, 2012
2:38 pm
We are getting _uck__ by our own govt…every day its something new on why gas is going up…I don’t care if its rep… are dem… they are all in that gas thing together…people wake up!!!
SirReal
January 30th, 2012
2:40 pm
@UGA1999 So I guess all the other regimes did great before him huh? Man, republican or democrat it doesnt matter. You right into their hands by blaming the figurehead. We did the SAME thing with Bush, the SAME thing with Clinton, and the list goes on. Obama only got the baton from Bush who only got the baton from Clinton, who got it from the 1st Bush….come on. Do you NOT see a pattern? I think it’s much bigger than what one man or his administration has done. This is a WORLDWIDE sham concocted by people you’ll never see or know a day in your life.
#occupy my desk...
January 30th, 2012
2:41 pm
4 more years! 4 more years! 4 more years! 4 more years! 4 more years! 4 more years!
UGA 1999
January 30th, 2012
2:43 pm
SirReal….Ok, then. Please tell me what Obama has done to decrease ever rising gas prices in the United States. Remember, he said we should be paying $5 gas. Yep, he sure is the president for the lower and middle class! hahaha Suckers!
Wutehvah
January 30th, 2012
2:43 pm
It has nothing to do with refining capacity – we are exporting TONS of gasoline. I believe it’s our largest export now, but we have a ’supply’ concern!!?? WTF???
SirReal
January 30th, 2012
2:44 pm
@UGA1999 You must not have gotten my point. Lets talk about what Obama did, Bush did, Clinton did, and so forth to do so? They are all together sir. Two wings of the same bird. Middle class? You actually buy into such a concept? I get you know….lol
Madmax
January 30th, 2012
2:45 pm
Here’s how the oil companies can make $1billion in a short time, shut down a few refineries and say it’s for “maintenance”, gasoline then goes up 50 cents a gallon, when enough profits are made the “maintenance” is done and the refinery is turned back online and no one notices or really cares.
UGA 1999
January 30th, 2012
2:46 pm
SirReal…point taken.
SirReal
January 30th, 2012
2:46 pm
@Madmax Yep…and all the fat cats get fatter. So while we whine about it, they could care less b/c we still go to the pumps as soon as the gas light comes on.
rivercard
January 30th, 2012
2:48 pm
KSU – As asked by someone before why are the refineries closing? Age, type of oil refined, smaller refiners, tight margins, Efficiencies have helped keep up supply and with a decrease in domestic demand Refined fuel was actually our top export last year.
UGA 1999 – Please provide the specific policies that are negatively effecting refined oil production/prices.
SirReal
January 30th, 2012
2:48 pm
@UGA1999 Thx. You seem like a pretty smart person so I wasnt trying to cross toes. Just the reality of the situation unfortunately and WE the people end up catching the @$$ end. When will we stop allowing ourselves to be hoodwinked?
truthsayer
January 30th, 2012
2:49 pm
Do you remember?
July 7, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi wrapped up her San Francisco holiday weekend Monday with a blast at President Bush. The topic — the price of oil. Gasoline has more than doubled since the Bush administration took office she says.
San Francisco’s Meals on Wheels turns out more than 1,300 meals a day to seniors. But now there has been a dramatic rise in expenses.
“Our costs have gone up 40 percent, but even more so, the indirect costs of driving food costs is really taking a big hit on us. Almost a nine percent increase in food costs in just one year,” says Ashley McCumber of Meals on Wheels.
McCumber joined Speaker Pelosi Monday to dramatize the tough times businesses are having because of fuel costs. The speaker blames what she labels the Bush-Cheney big oil agenda, using graphics to point out gasoline prices have more than doubled in the Bush administration.
“This is a scam of the greatest magnitude,” says Speaker Pelosi.
Rising gas prices affect groups like the Boys and Girls Club that is cutting programs to save costs, a small businessman who finds himself being priced out of competition or a caregiver who can’t afford gas to get to clients.
And for other Meals on Wheels programs around the bay, hikes in fuel costs have meant fewer deliveries. They can’t find volunteers who can afford to fill their tanks.
Prices at the pump are a pain for all of us, but Speaker Pelosi is accusing President Bush of policies that have driven up the prices, and says she has a solution to bring prices down immediately,
TallaDawg
January 30th, 2012
2:49 pm
MadMax – You are rIght, and the prices does not go back down. Pesto, instant profitability increase.
UGA 1999
January 30th, 2012
2:49 pm
SirReal….Oh, I agree. I just remember when gas was nearing $3 that the left was going nuts over Bush because he was an “oil man”. Now you do not hear them doing the same thing over Obama.
UGA 1999
January 30th, 2012
2:50 pm
rivercard….EASY!!!
Increased taxes
Threat of eliminating subsidies
Keystone Pipeline
Restriction on drilling on non-private property.
UGA 1999
January 30th, 2012
2:52 pm
I am not a huge FoxNews fan but this is GREAT!! Not FoxNews words but OBAMA’S OWN WORDS!!!!
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/01/30/as-debt-ceiling-skyrockets-obama-no-longer-calling-bush-increases-unpatriotic/
Midge
January 30th, 2012
2:54 pm
I thought neocons stated the Iraq war would pay for itself. Where’s the oil?
SirReal
January 30th, 2012
2:55 pm
UGA1999 LOL LOL I definitely remember. We live in two different times now but those same relationships are there. Obama’s an “oil man” too.LOL The media is simply paid to not focus on it I think. The writing is on the wall though. I’m sure he’s got some vested interest in this whole thing.lol
El Debarge
January 30th, 2012
2:56 pm
Midge,
Americans are fools. Bush lied to you. Get over it.
UGA 1999
January 30th, 2012
2:57 pm
El Debarge….Did you look at the video I just posted. Now you tell me who the liar is?
OWS rules
January 30th, 2012
2:59 pm
Romney is Obama wearing magic underwear. Both beholden to fascist, corporate America.
El Debarge
January 30th, 2012
3:00 pm
uga,
You couldn’t spell cat if I spotted you the “c” and “t”….
UGA 1999
January 30th, 2012
3:01 pm
El Debarge? Is that all you’ve got? HAHAHAHA NICE!
OWS rules
January 30th, 2012
3:04 pm
Bush lied, soldiers died, cons move on to their next hate fixation. Same as it ever was.
UGA 1999
January 30th, 2012
3:06 pm
OWS…..Obama lied….America died….the middle class cried…..
UGA 1999
January 30th, 2012
3:07 pm
…..gas prices flied…..
Midge
January 30th, 2012
3:09 pm
uga 1999=total terd
OWS rules
January 30th, 2012
3:09 pm
uga,
I occupied your mom last night.
UGA 1999
January 30th, 2012
3:10 pm
midge….AGAIN!!! HAHAHAAH….See we on the right post FACTS and the left can only come back with elementary school style names. Thanks for proving our point that you guys are challanged mentally.
UGA 1999
January 30th, 2012
3:10 pm
OWS…..PERFECT!!! THANKS!
Twoote
January 30th, 2012
3:11 pm
Gas is at least $1.00 more per gallon than when Obama took office.
Arent we all supposed to ask this question:
Are you better or worse off today than you were 4 years ago?
DUH!
TallaDawg
January 30th, 2012
3:12 pm
UGA1999 – “Increased taxes Threat of eliminating subsidies Keystone Pipeline Restriction on drilling on non-private property.” All of these even if clear and accurate, which they are not, impact the costs for oil companies. Why, if the costs of doing business are so burdensome, are oil company profits consistantly some of the higest around. They could maintain the price and still be enormously profitable, even under the current administration. It is not good enough. The oil companies have to extract as much profit as possible out of Americans. The only remedy is alternative fuels.
UGA 1999
January 30th, 2012
3:12 pm
Twoote…..YEP!
UGA 1999
January 30th, 2012
3:13 pm
Talladawg….So you are against corporate profits?
Aldo Raine
January 30th, 2012
3:16 pm
Who on here will admit owning a Prius?
Catchers Mitt
January 30th, 2012
3:29 pm
High Gas Prices are still Bush’s Fault!
The Facts – Gas prices have gone up 300% from 2001-2008 under an Oil Man President Bush, then gas prices FELL to $1.70 a gallon in Jan 2009 thanks to Bush’s Great Recession and remained below $2.40 a gallon until November 2010, thanks to President Obama. Once Texas Oil Man Joe Barton Republican from Texas, regained control of the house OIL/Energy committee on 11/2/10, Gas prices shot up FIFTY CENTS in two weeks, look it up! President Obama needs to tack on a bill to REMOVE ALL of the Bush Oil Companies Tax cuts on Earnings (Passed in 2005), if he approves the Keystone Pipeline Grant to Big Oil, and Micro-Regulate NYMEX Crude Oil trading based on supply/demand and not speculation!
Tea for two
January 30th, 2012
3:30 pm
Obama’a a Muslim.
UGA 1999
January 30th, 2012
3:30 pm
Catchers Mitt….CLOWN!!! hahahaahah
I hope and pray that Obama uses the “blame Bush” technique in a debate. PLEASE DO IT!!!
Tea for two
January 30th, 2012
3:31 pm
The long-form is bogus.
Larry
January 30th, 2012
3:40 pm
MSNBC is reporting that Cain’s mistresses are endorsing Gingrich.
My middle name is Leroy
January 30th, 2012
3:43 pm
Willlard’s a wimp!