LIMA — Shelby County has the lowest gas prices this week with a three-cent lead.
Shelby County has the lowest county average price for gasoline at $2.16. Next is Hardin at $2.19, followed by Logan at $2.23, Hancock at $2.240, Allen at $2.247, Putnam and Auglaize at $2.269, Van Wert at $2.29 and Mercer at $2.34.
On Monday morning, the average price of a gallon of regular gas in Ohio was $2.30, while last week’s average was $2.29. Gas prices have decreased 16.4 cents from last month’s average and have increased 16.9 cents from last year’s average.
Gas prices in the Lima region have decreased 19.6 cents since last week, according to prices reported to GasBuddy.com. Ohio’s gas prices have gone up .8 cents since last week. The average for Sunday was .08 cents more than Monday’s average, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 5,345 gas outlets in Ohio.
The national average has increased 2.3 cents last week from $2.51. Gas prices has gone up 25.1 cents since last year and is down 3.9 cents since last month.
Although gas prices have remained relatively low, prices are expected to rise in March, according to Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy.
The rise in gas prices will be the result of refineries preparing the gasoline for the summer, which DeHaan said can be tricky.
“No matter what happens with oil, any curveball to this work has a tendency to act as a spark in the combustion process- something will likely ignite gas prices, but it’s unpredictable when and to what degree,” said DeHaan.
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