In Fort Worth, price at pump goes up

Fort Worth motorists accustomed to paying the lowest gas prices in the state may be experiencing some sticker shock this week with the cost of a gallon of gas rising for the first time in weeks.

While the overall statewide average for a gallon dropped 3 cents, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas ticked up 6 cents in Fort Worth and Arlington, according to the AAA Texas Fuel Gauge.

Motorists in Fort Worth and Arlington, who according to the AAA survey were getting the cheapest gas in the state two weeks in a row, are now paying an average of $1.85 a gallon, one penny above the statewide average.

Motorists in Amarillo were paying the least at $1.74 while drivers in Corpus Christi were paying the most at $1.87, the travel and insurance agency reported. Texas motorists are still paying 20 cents less than the national average of $2.04.

Local drivers shouldn’t despair, however, and remember that a gallon of gas is still far cheaper than a year ago, when it was going for $3.13 a gallon, AAA reported. The record high price was $3.97 a gallon in July 2008, the agency’s records show.

FortWorthGasPrices.com was reporting similar numbers Thursday afternoon with an average price in Fort Worth and Arlington of $1.85. While there were 15 stations reporting gas at below $1.59 a gallon — most of them were $1.62 to $1.68 — there were another 15 reporting prices —eight reporting $1.99 a gallon — to as high as $3.39 at a Shell station in Watauga.

The price of gas is tied directly to the price of oil. The spot month contract for light sweet crude was $46.26 a barrel at noon Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Analysts predict that national and state averages will remain below $3 a gallon in 2015, barring any large fluctuations in global oil prices, AAA reported.

This story was originally published January 22, 2015 at 12:40 PM with the headline "In Fort Worth, price at pump goes up."