Photo | Courtesy of AAA Northeast
Gas prices in Massachusetts on Monday rose 3 cents since a week ago.
July 2, 2024
Greater Worcester gas prices begin to rise, reversing trend of falling prices
Photo | Timothy Doyle
A gas station on Pleasant Street and Park Avenue in Worcester
The average gasoline price in Greater Worcester was $3.45 on Monday morning, a 4-cent increase from $3.41 a week ago, which reversed an unusual trend to start the summer where prices were falling.
The price of regular unleaded gasoline is 2 cents lower per gallon than a month ago. The average gas price in Worcester on June 1 was $3.47, according to a report from the travel group AAA Northeast.
The Worcester rise follows the Massachusetts trend, which similarly shows a 3-cent increase since a week ago to an average of $3.46 per gallon on Monday, according to the AAA Northeast press release on Monday. The state average is down 5 cents from a month ago and 9 cents lower than this day last year.
Higher oil prices, increasing worries about an active hurricane season, and tightening inventories in the state have caused gas prices to rise, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Typically, gasoline prices rise at the start of the summer due to factors such as increased demand, so the delayed rise this summer is unusual.
“Now that school’s out and the summer driving season is in full swing, gas prices are trending up on the expectation of stronger demand ahead of the July 4 holiday,” Mark Schieldrop, senior spokesperson at AAA Northeast, said in the press release. “Summer got off to a slow start with low gas demand, but with a record 60 million travelers expected to take road trips for the holiday, higher oil prices, and lower regional inventories, prices could continue climb in the short term.”
While national gasoline inventories grew by 2.5 million barrels last week, in the Northeast, about 200,000 barrels were shed from regional storage, according to AAA.
Greater Worcester’s average gas price is 4 cents lower than the national average, which is $3.49 per gallon. The national average price is 5 cents higher than a week ago.
Sara Bedigian is a participant in the Editorial Internship Program at Worcester Business Journal. She is a rising junior at the University of Connecticut, where she studies journalism and political science. She will be the editor of the student-run newspaper The Daily Campus in the fall.
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