Average gas prices in San Antonio climb 5 cents over last week

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) — Strong holiday demand combined with global market speculations are causing gas prices to climb.

AAA Texas is out with their Weekend Gas Watch, which shows the average price in Texas climbing two cents to $2.91 a gallon.

That’s 94 cents higher than what you were paying a year ago but still the lowest average price in the nation. Drivers in California are seeing the highest average price at $4.66.

Drivers in San Antonio are enjoying the lowest average prices in Texas at $2.80 for a gallon of regular unleaded. That’s up 5 cents from last week and $1.01 from one year ago.

The auto club is predicting prices will continue to climb as demand increases and oversees pipeline issue take more than 500,000 barrels of oil off the market every day.

OPEC has agreed to take up some of the slack by adding up to 400,000 barrels of oil to the market every day, but that’s not expected to start until March.

AAA Texas also reports that the pre-Christmas fire at the Exxon Mobil Corp plant in Baytown, is causing reduced output.

The plant is the nation’s fourth-biggest oil refinery, with the capacity to process 560,500 barrels per day of crude.