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What to expect from Kansas City gas prices as national average hits highest in years

The pain at the pump is getting worse in Kansas City as gas prices are rising to levels not seen in nearly seven years.

And with the unofficial start of summer travel just weeks away with the Memorial Day weekend, gas prices are expected to continue increasing due in part to higher demand as the nation recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The national average price for unleaded gas on Wednesday topped $3 for the first time since November 2014, according to Nick Chabarria, public affairs specialist at AAA Missouri.

In the Kansas City metropolitan area, gas was averaging $2.77 on the Missouri side and $2.87 on the Kansas side, the highest it’s been since early November 2014.

If that seems like a distant memory, consider this: “This is a milestone not seen since David Letterman still hosted Late Night, Pharrell’s hat was introduced to the world, and Kim and Kanye got hitched,” GasBuddy, a travel and navigation app that help driver save money on gas, said in a press release.

“While this is not a milestone anyone wants to celebrate, it’s a sign that things are slowly returning to normal,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.

“In this case, rising gas prices are a sign Americans are getting back out into the world — attending baseball games, going to concerts, taking a road trip — basically staying anywhere but at home. This summer may see some blockbuster demand for fuel as well, as Americans find it very challenging to travel internationally, leading many to stay in the confines of U.S. borders, boosting some weeks to potentially record gasoline demand.”

Summer gas prices are not expected to set records, but settle down to levels more similar to 2018, according to GasBuddy. It expects the national average briefly rising above $3 a gallon but eventually dropping to the upper $2 to low $3 per gallon range.

If any major refinery issues develop during the summer travel season, however, gas prices could be impacted “in a large way” especially if the economy continues to see solid recovery and demand for fuel increases, GasBuddy said.

Current gas prices in Kansas City

Gas prices in the Kansas City area might seem especially painful when drivers compare what they are paying now to last year’s prices.

“Right now, we’re up about $1.25 from this time last year,” Chabarria said. “One thing to remember with gas prices last year is that it really was an anomaly of where prices went. We saw demand get decimated by the stay-at-home orders and of course the health concerns with traveling.”

As a result, the average price for gas stayed under $2 a gallon for just over 300 consecutive days last year, he said. He said that’s pretty remarkable.

“I know we saw gas prices reach 15-year lows at points last year,” Chabarria said. “It’s tough to compare gas prices to where they were this time last year just because it was such an oddity. It literally was an unusual time for gas prices around the country.”

The average price for regular unleaded gas in Kansas City metro area in Missouri was $2.774 on Wednesday, up slightly from $2.748 on Tuesday, according to AAA Gas Prices website. The average price was $2.645 a week ago and $2.561 a month ago. The average a year ago was $1.454.

The average price for diesel was $2.971 on Wednesday, up from $2.961. The average price was $2.921 a week ago and $2.932 a month ago. The average a year ago was $2.038.

On the Kansas side of the Kansas City metro area, the average price for regular unleaded gas was $2.868 on Wednesday, up slightly from $2.829 on Tuesday, according to the website. The average price was $2.722 a week ago and $2.652 a month ago. The average price for unleaded was $1.525 a year ago.

The average price for diesel was $3.122 on Wednesday, up from $3.094. The average price was $3.036 a week ago and $3.054 a month ago. The average price for diesel a year ago was $2.168.

Gas prices still remain among the lowest in the nation in Missouri. Kansas’ prices also are below the national average.

East Coast pipeline, outages

The shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline, which delivers approximately 45% of all fuel to the East Coast, due to a cybersecurity attack, should have no impact on gas prices or supply in the Kansas City area, said Allison Mac, a petroleum analyst with GasBuddy.

“Right now, only southeastern states that receive its fuel via the pipeline — Georgia, the Carolinas, Virgina, etc. — are experiencing shortages,” Mac said.

“Prices in Kansas City have been trending upwards the last couple of weeks (pre-pipeline shutdown) due to more demand for fuel and the switch over the summer-blend gasoline.”

Chabarria with AAA Missouri described what’s going on in the southeast more of an outage rather than a shortage.

“One of the more important points to remember here is that we’re not necessarily seeing a gas shortage,” he said. “There’s amble supply throughout the U.S. and in the Midwest and even still out East,” he said.

With the pipeline expected to be brought back online later this week, the outage is expected to be temporary, he said.

“We know that a lot of folks are concerned about gas supply in their area and we would just advise against panic buying at this point,” Chabarria said. “There’s ample supply in the Midwest and throughout the country.”

Even if there is some ripple effect in gas prices caused by the shutdown of the pipeline, it may not directly affect the Kansas City area, he said.

Instead gas prices, which have been increasing steadily since late last year, will be tied more to higher crude oil prices and increased demand created with vaccines rolling out and more folks getting out of the house, Chabarria said.

Memorial Day travel to jump 50% in Missouri

AAA Travel is expecting a significant rebound in people traveling for the Memorial Day holiday weekend, according its holiday forecast released this week.

Nationwide, more than 37 million people are expected to travel 50 miles or more from home between May 27 and May 31, an increase of 60% from last year when only 23 million people traveled, according to AAA.

In Missouri, holiday travel is expected to jump 50% with nearly 736,000 people expected to travel. Most people will be traveling by car, Chabarria said.

“We’ve kind of seen that throughout the pandemic: road trips are sort of the preferred mode of transport,” Chabarria said.

The number of Americans traveling by car, however, is still expected to be 9% less than in 2019. Gas prices are expected to continue to rise leading up to the holiday weekend, he said.

The number of people traveling by plain is expected to be up over last year, but still below 2019 levels.

The top destinations, according to AAA, include:

For road trips

  1. Las Vegas, Nevada

  2. Orlando, Florida

  3. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

  4. Denver, Colorado

  5. Nashville, Tennessee

AAA Travel Bookings:

  1. Orlando, Florida

  2. Las Vegas, Nevada

  3. Honolulu, Hawaii

  4. Anchorage, Alaska

  5. Colorado Springs, Colorado

For those looking to conserve fuel, AAA offered these tips:

  • Plan ahead and run multiple errands in one trip, avoiding high-traffic times of the day.

  • If you have more than one vehicle, use the most fuel-efficient one.

  • Remove bulky items from the car and minimize the use of roof racks.

  • Minimize the use of air conditioning, even at highway speeds.

  • Park in the shade and use a windshield sunscreen to lessen heat building inside the car.