After months of consistent price drops, gas prices are back on the rise in Portland and across the nation, according to GasBuddy’s weekly survey.
Portland saw an increase of 20.3 cents per gallon of gas in the last week, with an average price of $4.98 a gallon.
Average prices in Portland are more than 8 cents higher than a month ago, and up $1.23 from prices a year ago on September 26, 2021, when the average was $3.75 a gallon. That’s according to GasBuddy’s survey of 387 stations across the Rose City.
KATU News found one station on Monday that was charging $6.27 a gallon.
In Eugene/Springfield area, process were about $4.72 a gallon, up more than 26 cents from last week.
For Salem, the going rate was about $4.50, which is 22 cents higher than the previous week.
"One of the longest gas price declines on record has finally come to an end after 14 weeks, with gas prices shooting up in several regions amidst myriad refinery issues from the West Coast to the Great Lakes and in between," said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said in a press release.
Oregon’s average is $4.89 a gallon, while Washington state is seeing an average of $4.73 per gallon.
Nationally, gas prices jumped 3.2 cents per gallon, bringing the average to $3.67. That figure is 17.5 cents cheaper than a month ago.
The national average price of diesel declined 5.1 cents in the last week and stands at $4.88 per gallon, according to GasBuddy.
"I don't know that I've ever seen a wider gamut of price behaviors coast to coast in my career,” said De Haan. “A slew of unexpected refinery disruptions, including fires and routine maintenance, have seemingly all happened in a short span of time, causing wholesale gas prices to spike in areas of the West Coast, Great Lakes and Plains states — and some of those areas could see prices spike another 25-75 cents per gallon or more until issues are worked out.
"In addition, as Tropical Storm Ian nears the U.S. coast, some refiners could see limited disruption. As a precaution, GasBuddy has activated its Fuel Availability Tracker for motorists in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina. Hopefully, disruptions will be very limited due to Ian, but there remain many factors driving prices both up and down across the country."