Ohio & Mahoning Valley - Pain at the pump continues as gas prices continue to rise due to an uptick in crude oil costs and an increase in demand.

According to a press release from AAA East Central, the average price for gasoline in Northeast Ohio is $3.574 per gallon compared to last week's $3.478 per gallon and last year's $3.127 per gallon.

According to AAA East Central Public and Community Relations Manager, Tiffany Stanley, the biggest factor for these price increases is crude oil prices.

"Earlier this month, we saw that crude oil has dropped as low as $72 per barrel. However, over the past couple of weeks, we are starting to see an increase around 10 cents, which brought us to peak around $80 per barrel so unfortunately, the higher the crude oil and also the increase in demand is what's pushing those prices forward," Stanley said.

Stanley tells 21 News this price increase came from foreign markets lift very strict COVID-19 restrictions increasing demand of oil and gasoline.

"As we know, crude oil is about 50% of the prices that we see at the pump, so that's why we're seeing the increasing prices," Stanley said.

When asked how long we can expect to see these higher pump prices, Stanley told us it's hard to predict the future in cases like this as it all depends on what crude oil does.

"We have seen a slight increase in the supply as well, which is also working in our favor. So if we continue to see this increase in supply and some other factors change, then we might see prices slow down a bit as far as it creeping back up, but if crude oil does continue to increase we can expect to see increasing prices at the pump as well," Stanley said.

In terms of how drivers can conserve fuel with these increasing prices, Stanley recommends to slow down on the road, avoiding hard accelerations, combining trips and making sure your tires are properly inflated.