Gas prices in Wyoming have gone up by more than 39 cents per gallon in the last month, due largely to cold conditions in Texas and gas supply issues, according to a company that tracks gasoline prices across the country.
Daily figures from GasBuddy showed that the average price for a gallon for regular unleaded gasoline on Friday morning was about $2.65 per gallon, an increase of 39.3 cents from one month ago. The price increased by 22.8 cents from one year ago.
The increase in the last month would add about $6.79 to the cost of a trip from Cheyenne to Jackson in a car averaging 25 miles per gallon.
Wyoming’s gas price increase is higher than the national average of 29.5 cents seen nationally in the last month. The national average price of gas is about $2.76 per gallon, according to to the GasBuddy.
Gas prices across the country were affected for about eight weeks by cold weather that shut off power to large parts of Texas, the GasBuddy said.
Company analyst Patrick De Haan, in a news release, said the impact of the cold weather should be wearing off, but added a drop in gas supplies is now forcing prices up.
He noted that the demand for gasoline has increased with growth in travel as coronavirus cases decline.
“On the supply side, the number of oil rigs active in the U.S. stands nearly 50% lower than a year ago, which is a large factor driving prices up,” he said. “To put it simply, demand is recovering much, much faster than oil production levels, which is why oil prices have soared.”
Wyoming’s average price of gasoline increased from about $2.21 on Jan. 1 to $2.62 on March 1.
As of Friday, the lowest price of gas in the state was found in Weston County at $2.51 per gallon, followed by Albany County at almost $2.55.
Sublette County had the state’s highest gas price on Friday, nearly $2.90 per gallon, followed by Campbell County at almost $2.74.
