Mo. fuel prices climb, counters national trend

The average price for gasoline in Missouri rose 3.9 cents during the past week to $2 per gallon yesterday, according to GasBuddy.com's daily survey of 3,940 filling stations statewide.

Comparatively, the U.S. average ticked down 0.7 cents to $2.20 per gallon, according to a news release.

With the changes, Missouri’s average yesterday was 10.8 cents lower than a month ago and 8 cents below a year ago. The U.S. figure was down 1 cent from a month ago and 8.4 cents lower than a year ago.

Missouri was one of only 10 states with an increase during the past week. Gregg Laskoski, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy, said much of the price bumps on the East Coast following the recent leak of a section of the Colonial Pipeline have eased.

"While it appears that the worst may be behind us, we're not out of the woods yet where gasoline inventory levels are concerned," Laskoski said in the release. "The overall drop in gasoline inventory tied to Colonial Pipeline was approximately 8.5 million barrels. To put that in perspective, in the two weeks following Hurricane Katrina, East Coast gasoline inventories shed 3.3 million barrels."      

This morning, Missouri ranked No. 7 on GasBuddy’s list of the lowest gas averages in the nation. At $1.94 per gallon, Texas topped the list, while Hawaii was last at a $2.83 per gallon average.

Two filling stations in Harrisonville had the lowest prices in Missouri this morning, at $1.78 per gallon. At $2.89 per gallon, a station in Ladue had the highest price statewide, according to MissouriGasPrices.com.

In Springfield, the lowest price was $1.81 per gallon at eight stations, according to the website.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was trading at $45.89 per barrel as of 11:18 a.m., compared with a 52-week range of $34.10 to $54.01.