Gas prices in Michigan are up 12 cents compared to a week ago, according to AAA Michigan, with Michigan drivers now paying an average of $2.76 per gallon for regular unleaded, which is the highest price seen since September of 2019.
This price is 35 cents more than this time last month and 36 cents more than this time last year.
Motorists are paying an average of $41 for a full 15-gallon tank of gasoline; an increase of about $1 from when prices were their highest last January.
The national average continues to increase as crude prices march higher. Gas prices have also increased from longer-than-expected refinery outages due to the winter storm that impacted the Gulf Coast. As refineries restart and resume normal operations, supply is expected to increase in impacted areas and should bring stability to pump prices. Until then, most drivers should expect pump prices to continue increasing through the weekend.
At the close of Thursday’s formal trading session, WTI increased by 31 cents to settle at $63.52 — the highest settlement price since May 2019. Crude prices increased last week due to growing market optimism that as vaccines become more available, crude demand will recover. Prices continue to increase despite the Energy Information Administration’s new weekly report revealing that total domestic crude inventories increased by 1.3 million bbl, bringing the supply level to 463 million bbl.
“Michigan drivers have seen gas prices steadily increase over the past few weeks due to rising crude oil prices,” said Adrienne Woodland, spokesperson, AAA-The Auto Club Group. “With Midwest refineries beginning the switch to the more expensive summer-blend gasoline and the Gulf Coast refinery outages still having an impact, motorists could continue to see higher pump prices through the week.”
Compared to last week, Metro Detroit’s average daily gas price increased. Metro Detroit’s current average is $2.75 per gallon, about 11 cents more than last week’s average and 32 cents more than this same time last year.
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Click here to view AAA's state and metro gas averages
Most expensive gas price averages: Saginaw ($2.78), Grand Rapids ($2.77), Lansing ($2.77); Least expensive gas price averages: Traverse City ($2.56), Metro Detroit ($2.75), Marquette ($2.76)