Staff report

Lower supplies of refined gas are sending pump prices skyrocketing, according to GasBuddy, a national consumer web site.

In Port Arthur, that means fewer opportunities to buy gas at less than $2 a gallon.

GasBuddy reported this week that prices rose by 6.2 cents per gallon last week, averaging $2.03 a gallon Sunday. That’s according to GasBuddy’s survey of 13,114 stations in Texas. Nationally, the pump price is $2.31 per gallon, GasBuddy reported.

In Port Arthur, only six stations were reported by consumers as selling gas for less than $2 early Thursday:

• $1.94 at Fuel Depot, 7621 N. Twin City Highway and Jimmy Johnson. That price was almost a day old and prices were moving Thursday morning.
• $1.95 at Conoco, 8196 Ninth Ave.
• $1.98 at Murphy USA, 4995 Twin City Highway and 46^th
• $1.99 at RaceWay, 3939 Twin City Highway and 39^th
• $1.99 at Chevron, 2920 Jimmy Johnson.
• $1.99 at Murphy USA, 8595 Memorial Blvd.

Prices this week compared favorably to those recorded in Texas during the same week in 2017. Then, prices averaged $2.07 per gallon.

Texas prices this week were 24.9 cents lower than the same time period last year, but 9.6 cents higher than a month ago.

Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, issued this statement:

“Gas prices have advanced to their highest level in nearly two months mainly following as oil prices move higher. Gasoline demand remains seasonally weak but last week’s report from the Energy Information Administration showed refinery utilization plunging, meaning less gasoline is flowing out of refiners,” DeHaan said.

Typically, refiners shut down in late winter for maintenance as demand lessens and refiners move away from winter to summer grade gas.

“In addition, bullish data and optimism on a U.S.-China trade deal helped propel markets last week, as well as turmoil in Venezuela making a strong case for a larger absence of heavy crudes the market depends upon,” DeHaan said.

“But while gas prices are nearly guaranteed to be higher in May than today, it is looking more likely that the rise in prices this year may be more muted than we’ve seen in years past, when prices launched 35-75 cents during the spring.” DeHaan added.