NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Gas prices are staying slightly above the $3 a gallon mark, depending on where you are in the Sunflower State, says Shawn Steward with AAA Kansas.
"I think the fear of a global economic recession is leading to some of these falling prices we're seeing at the pumps," Steward said. "Crude oil dropped in the middle of last week to about $66 a barrel, which is pretty low for what we've seen recently. I see today, we're back up to about $73 dollars per barrel on the global market."
"There's lots of oil market volatility, as we've seen throughout much of this year," Steward said. "In the past week or so, we saw sort of a pre-summer driving season lull in domestic gasoline demand. Maybe people are just kind of saving up until the kids get out of school. We should be seeing a pretty robust summer driving season starting soon."
It's also important to note that summer blend gasoline is more expensive to produce than winter blend and that factors like an additional ethanol percentage in those cars that can use it, like flex fuel vehicles, can have an impact.
"The summer blend gasoline should be out in the market now, which does typically raise the price of gas a little bit," Steward said. "Ethanol is able to put a little bit of a limit on the price at the pumps. It does have some effect of keeping costs down. That's one thing for drivers and something that we can expect going forward."
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly's request to allow the sale of E15 products – gasoline blended with 15% ethanol – during the summer months through an emergency waiver.