Gas prices on the rise in South Dakota and across the country

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - It’s an expense that no one wants to pay but we all do anyways … gas. The price at the pump is on the rise and may continue to do so for at least a month.

Nationally, the average is around $3.65 a gallon. This number is up 22.1 cents cent from last month. People here get a slightly lower cost than the rest of the nation but don’t breathe a sigh of relief just yet. South Dakota’s average of $3.47 a gallon is still up about 21 cents compared to last month, making the increase about the same as nationally.

Patrick De Haan, an analyst with GasBuddy explains the main contributing factor to this rise is a supply and demand issue.

“I would say its probably OPEC’s decision to cut production which now happened about two weeks ago. The surprise cut in oil production has pushed oil prices back up in fact last week the price of oil hit its highest level of 2023. So in the last week or two that’s been a big part of why gas has jumped,” said De Haan.

De Haan says this increase can be expected to level out in about a month at which point it will likely start to drop again.

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