MARYLAND — Gas prices have jumped up in recent days, and Maryland is right in line with that trend.
The cost at the pump is up on average 12 cents nationwide, as well as locally, in the past week. That means it currently costs an average $3.68 to fuel up.
Morgan Dean, spokesperson for AAA Mid-Atlantic, explained:
We've seen very stable gas prices through much of the summer - May, June and the beginning of July, not much movement at all on gas prices - but here in the past week or so, we have seen gas prices start to jump up. A lot of that related to higher crude oil prices.
He said crude oil prices are hitting a three-month high. They're now at about $80 per barrel, up from $67 a barrel in June.
"About 50-60 percent of what we pay at the pumps is directly related to the price of crudes," said Dean.
He thought it was "kind of surprising that prices were as stable as they were for as long as they are." AAA thought there might be bigger bumps from summertime travel demand, around July 4 or Memorial Day, but that did not pan out too much.
He said the higher prices now are also related to "more optimism about the economy than we've seen over the past couple of months. Usually some optimism with the economy pushes prices for crude oil up just a good bit."
Prices are down from a year ago, but that was when "we hit those highest prices we'd ever seen mid-June, [with costs being] nationwide at the $5 level." More information is on AAA's website.
