JACKSON, Miss.–Mississippi’s capital city has the nation’s lowest price for gas today, with $3.18 the average. That may not be much consolation to you if you’re headed out of town or out of state for spring break. The national average is $3.51. Mississippi’s average is $3.21.
Nationally gas prices are up a dime since last Monday. In Mississippi, where the state average is 30 cents behind the national average, you’ve only seen it go up a penny in the last week. Still, $3.21 is a far cry from prices in November and December, when gas was under three bucks in many places in the state.
Oil analyst Trilby Lundberg, who runs the Lundberg Survey, a national gas and oil price tracking service, said the problem with gas prices this time around was not necessarily what’s going on in the Ukraine, though some have laid the blame there.
“We cannot blame crude (oil) for this dime at the pump,” she said. “Instead we see higher ethanol prices contributing to the price hike.”
She also had some not-so-good news for summer.
“It may be that we’ll see a few more cents at the pump very soon, but not right away. The added cost from summer reformulation of gasoline to prevent smog doesn’t really hit until April or May.”
The cheapest gas in Mississippi was in Kosciusko at $2.95. The most expensive was in Hernando and Gulfport at $3.59.
