Little Rock gas prices rising, but they might “slow down”

Little Rock, Arkansas – The cost of gas is generally increasing throughout the state, including in Little Rock. GasBuddy predicts that this tendency will eventually slow down.

According to a poll conducted by GasBuddy at 334 Little Rock gas stations, the average price of gasoline increased by 10.6 cents per gallon in the previous week. As of Monday, this costs $2.93 per gallon on average.

Prices in Little Rock are 8.6 cents per gallon more than they were a year ago and are up 19.4 cents per gallon from the previous month.

GasBuddy reports that on Sunday, the cheapest station in Little Rock had a gallon price of $2.69 and the most expensive had a gallon price of $3.15, a difference of 46.0 cents a gallon.

As of Sunday, the lowest price in the state was $2.42 per gallon, while the highest price was $3.99 per gallon, a $1.57 difference.

Current gas prices in the surrounding areas:

Memphis: $3.04/g, up 9.3 cents/gallon from $2.94/g last week.

Arkansas: $2.94/g, up 13.2 cents/gallon from $2.81/g the previous week.

Shreveport: $2.84/g, up 4.7 cents/g from $2.80/g last week.

“Last week, the rise in gasoline prices continued, still due to previous refinery outages caused by the cold weather the week of Christmas. However, I’m optimistic that as refiners get back online, we could see the increases slow down as we head into the time of year when gasoline demand is at its weakest,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “While gasoline prices have rallied, average diesel prices continue to drift lower, which certainly bodes well for the overall economy. As long as refiners are able to get back online soon from previous cold-weather outages, we could see supply start to recover at the same time demand is weak, which could bring gas prices down again. The window of opportunity, however, is shrinking, and by late February or early March, we’ll likely kick off the seasonal rise in gasoline prices.”

Diesel is now averaging $4.64 per gallon across the US, down 2.1 cents in the previous week.

Gasoline now costs an average $3.25 a gallon across the country, an increase of 8.2 cents per gallon in the past week.

The national average is unchanged from a month ago and is 3.6 cents per gallon less than it was a year ago, according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 11 million weekly price reports covering more than 150,000 gas stations nationwide.