Colorado’s gasoline price hike .
The average cost for a gallon of unleaded shot up another 12.8 cents to $1.78 per gallon during the past week in Colorado. Metro Denver’s average saw an increase of 13.5 cents per gallon to $1.77 per gallon, according to data released Monday.
Less than a month ago, Colorado’s gas stations were selling fuel at $1.50, a per-gallon average that was . In the past two weeks, prices in the Denver region and state have climbed by more than 25 cents amid refineries switching their output to the more expensive summer-blend gasoline.
“Also, we’ve started to see some springtime refinery maintenance in the panhandle of Texas that is impacting gas prices for Colorado as well,” said Will Speer, a GasBuddy senior petroleum analyst. “Additionally, crude futures prices (WTI) have strengthened 15.8 percent from Feb. 23 to March 4, so that adds to the mix of rising prices.”
Speer that Colorado could see increases in the range of 4- to 6-cents per gallon weekly to land near the $2 per gallon price in peak demand times such as Memorial Day weekend.
Nationally, gas prices gained another 7.6 cents to land at an average of $1.81.
Alicia Wallace: 303-954-1939, awallace@denverpost.com or @aliciawallace
