Average retail gasoline prices in Kansas have risen 3.8 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $3.26 Sunday, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 1,329 gas outlets in Kansas. This compares with the national average that has increased 5 cents per gallon in the last week to $3.40.
Including the change in gas prices in Kansas during the past week, prices yesterday were 41.6 cents per gallon lower than the same day one year ago and are 16.0 cents per gallon higher than a month ago. The national average has increased 12.5 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 32.6 cents per gallon lower than this day one year ago.
The state low of $3.09 was recorded at Emporia. The high was $3.59 at McPherson.
Locally in Great Bend, the price hovered around $3.19. Elsewhere in the area, gasoline sold for $3.20 at Larned, and $3.29 in Lyons and Ellsworth.
“The rate of increase in the national average has accelerated over the last week, and the worst is likely yet to come,” said GasBuddy.com Senior Petroleum Analyst Patrick DeHaan. “Oil prices continue to move higher as refineries continue their maintenance season, leading to a double whammy at the gas station.”
In addition, in another month the nation will also start seeing refineries producing more expensive, cleaner burning summer gasoline, and that will likely keep upward pressure on retail gasoline prices, he said. Just a handful of stations across the nation are seeing a price under $3/gallon, and a few weeks from today, motorists along the West Coast with perhaps a few other states will be wishing for those current $3 prices.
According to the American Automobile Association, today’s national average price at the pump is $3.42 per gallon. This price is six cents more expensive than one week ago and 13 cents more than one month ago; however national prices remain 36 cents per gallon less than the same date last year.
Despite an average that has moved higher for 17 straight days –  the longest streak since May of last year – and the largest one-month increase registered since August, the national average still reflects a substantial year-over-year discount and today’s price is the lowest for this date since 2011.
 National pump prices have started to exhibit the seasonal increase motorists are familiar with to begin the calendar year. While geopolitical tensions or domestic refinery issues exacerbated this run up each of the last three years, the absence of such catalysts has resulted in a less dramatic increase thus far in 2014. Cold weather and limited demand across the country has helped to keep a lid on prices for motorists, even with crude oil prices near a multi-month high.
In 2011 pump prices surged 29 cents per gallon through the end of February. In 2012 the national average spiked 45 cents higher through the first two months of the year. In 2013 prices were up 49 cents during the same span. With four days left in February, the national average has increased just nine cents to begin 2014.
The rising national average is mirrored at the state level, where pump prices are universally moving higher. Only drivers in Washington, D.C. are paying less to fill their cars than a week, two-weeks or month ago. In a number of interior states, the increase has been dramatic.
Motorists in 14 states have seen prices jump by at least 15 cents per gallon over the past 14 days. Coloradans are experiencing the most severe sticker shock as prices today are more than a quarter higher than two weeks ago, due to many of the same factors at the regional level that have pressured prices higher across the country: refinery maintenance and the approaching switch to summer-blend fuel.
On Jan. 1 pump prices in Colorado were 14 cents per gallon below the national average and today they are five cents higher. However, even given this recent surge, prices in Colorado still average 12 cents less than a year ago. The state’s average has historically trended slightly below the national price at the pump, although in recent years motorists have seen this gap widen early in the year before returning in line with the national average.
The only state where prices today are higher than this date last year is Wyoming (two cents higher) and drivers in 16 states are paying at least 40 cents less per gallon.
 From Oct. 21 through Feb. 7, West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices spent just one day above $100 per barrel and traded as low as $91.80 on Jan. 13. At the close of Monday’s formal trading on the NYMEX. WTI settled up 62 cents at $102.82 per barrel, which begins the third consecutive week above the $100 threshold.
As noted above, cold weather and limited demand have kept a lid on gasoline prices; however as the weather warms and refineries begin the switchover to produce more expensive summer-blend gasoline, pump prices are likely to continue higher, especially if crude oil prices remain elevated.
The on-line publication 24/7 Wall St. notes that with the exception of Texas, almost all the largest states by population have gas prices above $3.50. In New York, California and Connecticut, the level has crossed above $3.70. In Michigan, Illinois and Pennsylvania, the price is above $3.60. Among them, these states have more than 40% of the U.S. population. So the gas price problem could become acute throughout most of the country soon, for half or more of all Americans.
Most economists believe that, at some point, gas prices become high enough to begin to erode consumer spending. High prices pushed consumer confidence down in the spring to 2012 and then again in the late summer of 2013. The heavy driving season that begins on Memorial Day is only three months away. And that likely will spur demand and offset what might have been some relief to gas prices as cold weather passes.
Several signs indicate that consumer confidence has already begun to slip from levels in late 2013. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment data showed a final reading of 81.2 in January, down from 82.5 in December. Retail sales have been poor, although some of that has been blamed on frigid weather.