You may notice higher prices at the gas pumps if you're filling up Tuesday. Analysts say that is likely to continue in the months ahead.
Right now, the average price for a gallon of gas in the Sacramento region is $2.69. That is 17 cents higher than a year ago. Gas prices are predicted to remain higher in 2017.
"It's not going to be the great year that 2016 was. But it's not going to be a return to record prices," says Patrick DeHaan, a petroleum analyst with GasBuddy.
DeHaan says prices have been inching up since Nov. 30. That is when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries made the decision to cut oil production, which led to the price of oil surging to recent highs, about $54 a barrel.
DeHaan says after Valentine's Day, consumers may be hit with sticker shock as the refinery maintenance season begins with the long transition to cleaner, more expensive summer gasoline.
"Motorists, between mid-February and mid-May should expect to see a rise of anywhere from 25 cents to 50 cents a gallon," DeHaan says. That will certainly keep prices a bit higher at the pumps this summer than last year."
DeHaan says areas of California will likely see the return of prices around $3 a gallon this year. But he does not think we will see prices over $4.
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