Gasoline prices at the pump are on the rise again, after falling to a two-and-a-half-year low in early January.
On Wednesday, the national average price rose to $3.30 a gallon, up 2.2 cents from a week ago, and up 25 cents from $3.05 hit on January 11, which was the lowest since June 2021.
Underlying crude oil prices have been rising in recent weeks with Nymex WTI crude futures up 10% since the start of the year as rising tensions in the Middle East and attacks on oil shipments in the Red Sea have raised concerns over supply.
On Wednesday, WTI was up fractionally at $78.90 a barrel, while the United States Oil Fund (NYSE:USO), an exchange-traded fund that tracks a basket of oil prices, was standing close to a three-month high at $73.84.