While Wyoming has not felt the sting of gasoline shortages seen in the last week in the eastern U.S., its gas prices are still rising in advance of the upcoming three-day holiday.
Figures provided in the regular report by GasBuddy.com, a company that tracks gasoline prices throughout the country, showed that the average price of a gallon of unleaded gasoline in Wyoming on Friday was about $2.97 per gallon, compared to a national average of almost $3.04.
Nationally, prices have gone up by 7.3 cents per gallon in the last week, due in part to disruptions in fuel deliveries caused by the shutdown of a major pipeline feeding the East Coast.
The rise in Wyoming has been less dramatic at 4.1 cents per gallon.
In the last month, Wyoming’s gas prices have increased by 8.3 cents per gallon, while the state has seen a 65% increase in gasoline prices in the last year, from $1.79 on May 14, 2020.
GasBuddy.com reported the demand for gasoline nationally has increased by 74.3% over this time in 2020, when much of the country was brought to a standstill by the coronavirus.
Aldo Vazquez, a spokesman for AAA Mountain West, told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday that demand created by the upcoming Memorial Day holiday will lead to increases in gas prices over the next two weeks.
Wyoming’s highest gas price was found in Teton County at almost $3.28 per gallon, while the lowest price was in Weston County at about $2.70 per gallon.
Nationally, Wyoming’s gasoline prices were the 20th highest in the nation.
The highest gas prices in the nation were in California, with an average of almost $4.13. Mississippi, with an average cost of almost $2.71 per gallon, had the lowest.
