TOPEKA – The average price for a gallon of gasoline in Kansas jumped 4 cents in the past week, tied for the fifth largest increase in America. Today’s Kansas average is $2.68, which is 51 cents higher than one year ago.

“As we’ve expected and predicted, ‘volatility’ is the name of the game with this summer’s gas prices,” said Jennifer Haugh, AAA Kansas spokeswoman. “Steady demand and a relatively low gasoline inventory level in our region are the reasons we’ve seen this most recent increase in retail prices, after seeing some declines in recent weeks. We are still pretty fortunate here in the Sunflower State to have the nation’s 12^th cheapest average gas prices, 18 cents less than the national average.”

Of the 10 Kansas cities regularly highlighted by AAA Kansas (see chart below), only Manhattan (-1 cent) experienced a gas price decline this week, while Pittsburg remained flat. Garden City and Salina saw 7-cent increases, and Kansas City, Kan. and Wichita prices rose 6 cents.

According to AAA Kansas, this week’s Kansas gas price extremes are:

HIGH: Howard (Elk County) – $2.90

LOW: Montezuma (Gray County) – $2.43

As U.S. gasoline demand strengthened and supply declined, the national gas price average jumped two-cents on the week to land at $2.86. According to the latest Energy Information Administration (EIA) report, total crude inventories fell on the week and now register at 405 million bbl, which is 80 million bbl lower than levels at the same time last year.

“As crude and gasoline inventories tighten, motorists can expect gas prices to trend higher and remain volatile,” said AAA Kansas’ Haugh. “On the week, pump prices increased as much as 11-cents for some states with others seeing decreases of up to four-cents.”

While today’s gas price average is one-cent less than last month, it is 55-cents more than a year ago and crude oil prices are up $20/bbl compared to this time last year.

Today’s national gas price extremes:

High: Hawaii – $3.78

Low: Alabama – $2.55