Valley gas prices soar due to heavy increase in demand
Ohio & Mahoning Valley - Gas prices in the Mahoning Valley have drastically jumped this week due to a major demand increase and oil price icreases.
The average gas prices in Northeast Ohio jumped 30 cents from $3.132 per gallon to $3.439 per gallon. Despite this increase, the local average is still 62 cents lower than last year's average of $4.053.
According to AAA East Central, robust demand for gasoline, tighter supply and rising oil prices are the primary factors for this drastic increase.
The latest data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) indicates that gas demand increased from 8.96 million to 9.15 million barrels per day last week. Meanwhile total domestic gasoline stocks decreased substantially by 2.9 million barrels to 226.7 million barrels.
On Sunday, the organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other major oil producers including Russia known collectively as OPEC+ announced a voluntary agreement to slash their output by just over 1 million barrels per day through the end of 2023. This cut is planned to start in a month.
This move caused oil prices to spike popping over the $80 per barrel mark for the first time in several months.
