Pain at the pump: Area gas prices on the rise

$3 per gallon looking possible as crude oil inventories are drained.

With Atlanta gas prices rising to their highest level since the hurricane-propelled spikes of mid2017, there is a growing chance of hitting $3 a gallon.

The average price of regular gas in the region Friday was $2.76 a gallon, four cents a gallon below the national average, according to Gas Buddy’s Atlanta Gas Prices web site.

“I underestimated how quickly crude oil inventories would drain,” said Patrick DeHaan, Gas Buddy’s senior petroleum analyst.

Average gas prices in Atlanta have risen 9 cents-a-gallon in a week and 22 cents-a-gallon in the past month.

Prices are 49 cents a gallon higher than a year ago. Inthe southeast, Georgia has the second-highest prices, according to AAA. Only Florida’s prices are higher.

Several months ago, he predicted this spring’s high price would be about where it is now. Now, he says the peak will depend on June’s upcoming meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Counties. “I think $3-a-gallon is a stronger possibility now, perhaps a 40 percent chance of the average hitting that in Atlanta.”

OPEC has much less influence than in decades past, partly because of the U.S. surge in oil production through the Midwest. But demand and supply are balanced closely, so if OPEC raises production, it would mean a decrease in oil prices, which would eventually low through to the pump.

The price of mid-grade and premiumis already above $3 a gallon and some stations in metro Atlanta have raised even regular past that mark.

A Shell station in Acworth was charging $3.19 a gallon for regular Friday morning, according to Gas Buddy.

A Sam’s Club in Woodstock had the lowest price for regular: $2.45 a gallon.