Here we go again on the gas price roller coaster. Today another 25 to 30 cent hike per gallon at the pump at most stations in the Akron-Canton area to 3.99 a gallon.
Patrick DeHaan, Senior Petroleum Analyst with GasBuddy.com says get used to what the oil industry now calls "price cycling"
"They call it price cycling, when prices go down even if wholesale prices go up, only to then spike a week later. There's not necessarily a specific reason we went back up to 3.99. Wholesale prices have remained at elevated levels, so this volatility in which prices jumped 30 cents is going to be here to stay for quite some time," says DeHaan.
He says dealers will cycle prices higher again to recoup profit lost when competition forces the retail price lower, even while wholesale gas prices remain higher.
DeHaan says even with some refineries in the Great Lakes region down for maintenance and gas supplies tight on the gulf, east and west coasts, that's still no justification for the big spikes in prices at the pump.Patrick DeHaan tells AkronNewsNow we may get some price relief this fall. "I'm still hopeful that wholesale prices will drop, and instead of seeing spikes up to 3.99, perhaps as we approach fall and winter those spikes would be considerably less, perhaps up to the mid to high three dollar range, instead of close to four dollars, maybe $3.60 or $3.70.
