Gas prices are having the most expensive start to the year since 2014, AAA said.
To be sure, the AP reported that the average price of a gallon of regular-grade gasoline jumped 4 cents nationally over the past two weeks to $2.58.
Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg Survey said Sunday that the increase is due to higher crude oil costs.
The current gas price is 22 cents above where it was a year ago.
Gas in San Francisco was the highest in the contiguous United States at an average of $3.26 a gallon. The lowest was in Tucson, Arizona, at $2.16 a gallon.
The U.S. average diesel price is $2.99, up 5 cents from two weeks ago.
"It has been anything but a normal January for prices at the pump," said Mark Jenkins, spokesman, AAA - The Auto Club Group. "Normally, demand slips and supplies build. However, this story so far this year has been a rally in oil prices.
"Oil prices strung together three weeks of significant gains, raising the cost of producing gasoline," Jenkins continued.
"As a result, gas prices for the month of January have been the most expensive in four years. Fortunately, prices at the pump plateaued late last week, after the momentum for oil stalled out. While gas prices will continue to be steered by the price of oil, they will soon face additional pressure from refinery maintenance season," he said.
"During the next few months, refineries will reduce output as they conduct maintenance on their equipment and switch to summer-blend gasoline. This usually leads to tighter supplies and forces gas prices higher. However, there is still lingering hope that U.S. oil production will ramp-up sooner than later, which would boost inventories and push energy prices lower."
(Newsmax wire services contributed to this report).
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