Why did West Virginia gas prices spike in the last week?

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — You’re not imagining the spike at the pump that West Virginia saw last week.

According to AAA, the average price per gallon of gas in West Virginia rose by 19 cents in the last week, and locally in Clarksburg, 12 News reporters have seen prices increase by as much as 40 cents in a few days. But why?

According to GasBuddy reports, oil prices rose after President Donald Trump imposed new sanctions on Russia last week.

“Oil prices got a boost last week following the U.S. Treasury Department’s sanctioning of the two largest Russian oil companies. The impact on the oil market will depend on whether India and Turkey scale back their Russian oil purchases and if Russia finds alternative buyers for its oil,” said Giovanni Staunovo, UBS commodities analyst, according to a report from Nexstar affiliate WANE.

Although gasoline production increased last week, the total domestic gasoline supply still decreased by more than 2 million barrels, according to AAA.

And West Virginia isn’t the only place seeing the impact. Although the natural average price of gas only rose by a few cents last week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said that prices at some gas stations in cities like Boston and New York skyrocketed by as much as 89 cents in one day.

Other states that saw average prices increase by more than 10 cents last week were Michigan, Iowa and New Mexico.

Even with the big price increase, West Virginia’s prices are still below the national average of $3.05 and are around the same as they were this time last year.

Prior to last week, West Virginia gas prices were on a consistent downward trend, especially with the recent switch from summer to winter blend gasoline, which usually happened in mid to late-September.