Tuesday, December 20, 2016
YOUNGSTOWN
A month ago, Ohioans paid about 20 cents less at the pump than they're paying now.
On Nov. 20, gas in Youngstown averaged about $1.99 and on Tuesday it was $2.20, according to the website GasBuddy.com.
The reason for the increase: OPEC and non-OPEC members reached their first agreement since 2001 to reduce their oil output.
“There definitely is a lot of impact from the announcement,” said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.
The agreement between OPEC and non-OPEC members to cut their oil supply by 1.8 million barrels per day caused oil benchmarks to jump, which then led to an increase in the price at the pump. West Texas Intermediate, WTI, crude — the U.S. benchmark — futures for January were at $52.57 on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg Markets. On Dec. 21, 2015, the WTI price was at $34.74. Brent — the overseas benchmark — futures for February 2017 were listed at $55.79 on Tuesday. On Dec. 21, 2015, the Brent price was at $36.35.
“Over night [the announcement] had an immediate price impact,” DeHaan said. “It took a little longer to start playing out at the pumps.”
Nationally, the price of gas is up from $2.14 reported Nov. 20 to $2.25 on Tuesday.
“It looks like there are a 22 states that are up double digits since last month,” DeHaan said.
Read more about the situation in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.