NORTHWEST INDIANA - Consumers have seen a bit of a hike in Gasoline prices in Northwest Indiana during the last week but Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy.com says not to worry.
"Average prices though have started to come back down already," DeHaan says. "That's the good news. The bad news is we're paying about three cents more than we were a week ago but like I said, we saw a pretty big price hike to about $2.59 cents a gallon but, the statewide average has started coming back down. That's because wholesale prices [are] still relatively low though all things considered, still paying more than we did a year ago, when of course oil prices were much lower."
DeHaan says the change from last year's prices to this year's are tied into production amounts.
"A lot of what we were dealing with a year ago was prices that were relatively low but they started rising very quickly after Thanksgiving and that was because OPEC decided to cut oil productions," DeHaan says. "So you compare last year to this year and now we're feeling the full effects of last year's production cut, and that's why the price of oil now is still near multi year highs at about $57 dollar a barrel. A year ago oil prices were in the mid 40s. So that big difference is what's causing us to have to pay more at the pump this holiday season."
Average retail gasoline prices in Northwest Indiana have risen just over 7 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.42/g Sunday, according to GasBuddy's daily survey of 314 gas outlets in Northwest Indiana. This compares with the national average that has fallen under three cents per gallon in the last week to $2.45/g, according to gasoline price website GasBuddy.com.
Including the change in gas prices in Northwest Indiana during the past week, prices Sunday were just under 22 cents per gallon higher than the same day one year ago and are just under 24 cents per gallon lower than a month ago. The national average has decreased slightly more than 11 cents per gallon during the last month and stands just under 24 cents per gallon higher than this day one year ago.
According to GasBuddy historical data, gasoline prices on December 11th in Northwest Indiana have ranged widely over the last five years:
$2.20/g in 2016, $1.89/g in 2015, $2.53/g in 2014, $3.18/g in 2013 and $3.33/g in 2012.
