Gas prices up, but so is U.S. oil production

Gas prices are headed up in Kansas.

“Kansas average gas price today is about $2.19 a gallon, which is up 8 cents in the past week and about 20, 21 cents in the past month,” said Shawn Steward with AAA Kansas. “We have seen some increase, but we’re still 11th cheapest in the country.”

The national trend is up, as well.

The national average is $2.40 a gallon, which is up six cents in the past week,” said Steward. “Eighty percent of gas stations across the nation are selling gas for $2.50 or less.”

On average, gas prices are still 11 percent cheaper than the first two months of 2018.

“We have seen a little bit of an increase recently with pump prices because of refineries gearing up for their spring gasoline production and maintenance season,” said Steward.

Some refineries go offline temporarily for maintenance, but domestically, the U.S. is getting more oil out of its ground than ever before. EIA statistics say that total domestic crude production hit 12 million barrels per day. This rate is the highest weekly estimate ever recorded by EIA, since it began tracking the data in 1983.