Will gas pump prices keep rising?

Posted: July 31, 2012

Prices at the pump have been inching higher all month, but don't expect the trend to continue, according to AAA.

The summer driving season spikes demand and tends to push prices higher, and the recent rise may have been partly fueled by concerns about a possible confrontation with Iran over its nuclear program, according to the drivers' association.

The outlook, though, is for prices to stay level through Labor Day.

At the end of June, a gallon of regular averaged 3.40 a gallon in the five-county Philadelphia area.

As of this morning, it was up to $3.63.

Just for the city itself, the average gallon was going for $3.65, according to AAA's Fuel Price Finder ( http://aaa.opisnet.com/index.aspx).

In South Jersey, gas was $3.45 as of Friday, up 12 cents in just a week, according to AAA. Statewide, a gallon was going for $3.45, as of this morning, according to GasBuddy.com.

Nationally, prices bottomed out July 2 at $3.33 a gallon, and were up to $3.49 this morning, according to AAA.

These levels are closer to the lows of the last 12 months, rather than the highs. Nationally, prices fell below $3.25 in December, steadily rose to a peak of $3.94 on April 6, then steadily fell to July 2.

AAA's Fuel Price Finder, GasBuddy.com and Philly.com's gas prices page ( http://ow.ly/cAIkq) can be used to locate cheap gas prices.

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