Gasoline prices bumped up a little today, after weeks and weeks of declines. In New Orleans, the AAA daily survey finds a gallon of 87 octane averages $3.127, up more than a penny from last week. Statewide, the average in Louisiana today is $3.137, which is up more than two cents a gallon compared to last week.
AAA thinks this may be more than just a temporary bump.
"I think we're going to see those prices continue to climb now through December,"said AAA analyst Don Redman.
Redman says there are many reasons why. Many refineries are offline for maintenance.
"And you have that many refineries offline, it's gotten to the point that even the governor of California has said, you know what, you can start selling that winter grade gasoline now," said Redman.
OPEC members are considering more production cuts, to the tune of two million barrels a day.
"I think a lot of that's going to be looking at what OPEC decides and if there is some kind of negotiations coming out of Ukraine and Russia," Redman added.
And even though Hurricane Ivan steered clear of the Gulf Coast refinery zone in Texas and Louisiana, it was enough to get several Gulf oil rigs to halt production until the danger passed.
"It did create about a ten percent decrease in oil production in the gulf," said Redman.
