Feb 23, 2021 2 min read

Up, up and up it goes across Western Pennsylvania.

The average price of a gallon of unleaded self-serve gasoline there soared to $2.940 this week, AAA East Central reported on Monday. That is a 13.0-cent bump, the seventh regional increase in the past eight weeks.

That figure is 8.9 cents higher than it was in late February 2020.

Fuel, on average, costs 46.2 cents more per gallon than it did eight weeks ago.

AAA monitors weekly prices in 23 cities and towns across Western Pennsylvania, where the greater Washington area experienced a 15.3-cent jump this week to $2.954. That follows an 11.6-cent increase a week ago.

Gas in and near the city is still a relative bargain – the average there is the eighth-lowest in the region. Washington’s average, however, has risen 68.7 cents over the past eight weeks – from $2.267 since early January.

Latrobe, for the third week in a row, has the region’s cheapest petrol at $2.710 – despite a 21.1-cent increase. Greensburg ($2.783) is second.

Uniontown’s average rose 11.6 cents to $2.989, the fifth-highest price regionally. Warren ($2.998) has the priciest fuel.

Pennsylvania’s average increased by 9.3 cents to $2.902, 3.8 cents below the regional mark but nearly 27 cents higher than the U.S. average. The national figure jumped 13 cents to $2.63, the highest it has been since October 2019.

Higher pump prices are attributed mostly to rising crude oil prices and the forced shutdowns of refineries along the Gulf Coast and in the Midwest because of winter weather.

Nearly two-thirds of the states, according to AAA, experienced an increase of 10 to 22 cents from last week.