Gas Prices Continue To Rise, Crude Oil Prices Play A Role

Gas prices in Montana began to climb at the beginning of March and Senior Petroleum Analyst Will Speer says Montanans can expect the prices to go up even more in the days to come.

“Last week Montana has seen gas prices rise nearly five cents, while that’s less than the United States saw in one week’s time at 6.5 cents, it’s still not good news for motorists,” said Speer. “Right now it is sitting at about $1.77 on average for a gallon of gasoline in Montana. We can expect prices to get another 5 to 10 cents more expensive in the coming weeks.”

Speer says the rising gas prices are typically seasonal, but something surprising is also going on.

“The strengthening of crude oil prices,” said Speer. “Earlier this year we talked about how low below $30 can oil prices get. We are close to $38 now and getting closer to $40. That is going to play in to how high gas prices can get, where the more strengthening of crude prices will start to trickle in to your tanks.”

Speer stated that crude oil production fell to the lowest since November 2014, but crude and petroleum stocks remain the highest ever recorded in US history and that this oversupply will provide a ceiling for gas prices in the future.