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Jul. 25—After a two-month decline, local gasoline prices surged this week, particularly in Sharon, where the per-gallon price of fuel leapt by nearly 15 cents.
AAA Western Pennsylvania reported Monday that the region's average gasoline price was $3.734 a gallon for the week ending July 16, an increase of about seven cents from last week's average of $3.643.
Locally, AAA reported an average of $3.763 per gallon in the Mercer area, the highest price since May 15. Last week, the price was $3.689 a gallon.
The increase was even more pronounced in Sharon, where the area's average price rose from $3.575 to $3.731. The last time Sharon-area residents paid that much for a gallon of gasoline was May 1.
Gasoline prices had been declining since early May, bottoming out at $3.689 on June 17 in Mercer, and $3.426 on June 10 in Sharon.
James Garrity, an analyst for AAA, blamed the increase on rising oil prices, which increased into the $75-a-barrel range. Gas demand remained flat, below seasonal norms.
But there is still a positive to be found. Even though gasoline is more expensive than it was last week, it's still more than a dollar per gallon cheaper than it was last year at this time, when western Pennsylvanians paid an average of $4.737 a gallon.