National experts are assigning international blame to the surprise local drivers had over the weekend when they found out they were going to pay another dime a gallon for gas to get to work Monday.
Local fuel prices have risen by almost half a dollar a gallon since the first of the year.
Just before Christmas, local prices were still under $3 per gallon.
Over the weekend, local prices hit $3.40.
Still, that is at the middle of the road state wide. In fact, $3.40 per gallon was the Kansas average price Monday.
Elsewhere around the state, prices included: $3.25, Newton; $3.26, Wichita; $3.28, Wichita; $3.29, Manhattan, South Hutchinson, Maize and Hutchinson; $3.32, Emporia and Junction City; $3.33, Garden City and Concordia; $3.34, Hutchinson and Junction City; $3.35, Pratt, Emporia, Liberal, Winfield, Ottawa and Garden City; $3.36, Salina; $3.38, Salina; $3.39. Larned, Concordia, McPherson; El Dorado, Ellsworth, Pratt, Lawrence, Ottawa, South Hutchinson, Winfield and Dodge City, Hays and Garden City; $3.40, Manhattan; $3.41, Junction City; $3.45, Manhattan, Maryville, Pratt, Lawrence and Liberal; $3.47, Liberal, Goodland and Parsons; $3.49, Chanute, Winfield, Goodland, Salina and Fort Scott; and $3.54, Lawrence and McPherson.
Some communities are listed more than once in the prices, because there are a variety of gas prices available.
The average price in Kansas Monday was $3.40, which is up from $3.23 a week ago and $3.04 a month ago. A year ago, the average price in Kansas was $2.67.
The national average for Monday was $3.48, up from $3.12 a month ago. A year ago the national average was $2.74.
Two days before Christmas, local prices went up by a dime a gallon, to $2.96.
Last week, prices around the community began the increase from $3.13 to the current $3.40
According to the Associated Press: “The crisis in Libya is again pushing oil higher as the New York Mercantile Exchange opens for trading.
“Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery gained 83 cents Monday at $105.25 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price almost hit $107 per barrel earlier in electronic trading, the highest since Sept. 26, 2008.
“In London, Brent crude added 64 cents at $116.61 per barrel.
“The rise in oil is driving gasoline prices to levels that weren’t expected for at least another month. Pump prices have jumped an average of 39 cents per gallon since the Libyan uprising began in mid-February. The national average hit $3.509 per gallon overnight, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service.”
The AP report noted that there has been no actual impact on American supplies during the recent price increases. “Saudi Arabia has increased production to make up for the loss of Libyan crude, which goes mainly to Europe, but that puts a tighter squeeze oil supplies as the global economy recovers and consumption rises.”
The national average price Tuesday was $3.36, up from $2.70 a year ago.
Great Bend began 2011 with gas under $3 per gallon.
The prices are reported on Kansas Gas Prices, which is operated by Gas Buddy Organization, that was developed as a way for the public to report changes in gas prices around the nation.
The Kansas prices are available at www.kansasgasprices.com.