Gas Prices Jump Nationwide


Gas prices jumped 18 cents over the past two weeks, the biggest jump of the year, according to a survey published Sunday. The average cost of a gallon of regular is $3.69 nationwide. That's nearly 8 cents higher than a year ago, but still 28 cents lower than it was in April of this year. Higher crude oil prices, higher corn-based ethanol prices, plus a spate of refinery and pipeline problems around the country combined are behind the spike. The U.S. drought is pushing up prices for all corn-based products. It's impossible to predict what will happen with gas prices in the near future. The refinery and pipeline issues that have added to the price rise are certainly temporary in nature. But the other two -- the ethanol price rises and the higher crude oil prices -- aren't so easily dismissed as immediately temporary. The city with the highest average in the latest survey was Chicago, at $4.23. The lowest average price was in Tucson, Arizona, at $3.18. Here locally, gas prices have been averaging in the $3.60 range. In Newland, gas ranges from $3.49 to $3.57 a gallon, prices in Wilkesboro ranging from $3.58 to $3.65, Jefferson currently seeing prices from $3.55 to $3.58 and here in Boone gas prices are ranging from $3.57 to $3.67 per gallon.