Gas Prices Back On The Rise

After testing five-year lows near $2 per gallon recently, prices at the pump will rise through February, a new report said on Monday. However, increases will be slight and perhaps short-lived if crude oil supply continues to outstrip demand.

Data from the American Automobile Association (AAA) said average gas prices across the country have increased and will likely will keep moving upward. That uptick comes after a record 123-day period of steady declines, the organization said.

Fuel prices have dropped more than a dollar per gallon in a single year, from an average of $3.30 per gallon in January 2014 to $2.11 in January 2015—the cheapest monthly average since April 2009.

The pending price jump results from refinery issues and more stable crude oil costs, according to the AAA. Refineries begin an annual "maintenance season" around this time of year, which typically cuts production and accounts for a slight bump in prices.

This year, however, customers should expect pump prices to increase between 30–50 cents per gallon between early February and the middle of spring—slightly higher than the 22-cent average seasonal jump seen in the last five years.

The price of domestic crude, or West Texas Intermediate, (WTI) has also somewhat stabilized, after collapsing by fifty percent since June 2014. A boom in American oil production, economic concerns in Asia and Europe, and weak demand from consumers pulling back on travel and driving in the winter months has sent oil reeling.

The crude market is still volatile, and prices could drop quickly if supplies build up again, even as drivers rev up their engines in spring. Customers will still be paying lower prices than in previous years, the AAA noted, and currently more than half of all gas stations in the US are selling gas for less than two dollars per gallon.