What’s Up With Rochester’s Recently Rising Gas Prices?

Even though they're still pretty cheap, have you noticed that gas prices have increased by ten to fifteen cents a gallon in Rochester recently?

Keeping track of the price of gas is almost a hobby of mine. My drive into the Quick Country 96.5 studios in downtown Rochester takes me by several area convenience stores and gas stations each day, and I usually note what the price is, and if it's gone up or down. And I use the GasBuddy app on my phone quite a bit, too-- to make sure I'm getting the lowest price around.

And, over the weekend-- it might have been Sunday-- I noticed that several area stations had increased the price of unleaded by ten cents, from around $1.34 a gallon to $1.44. (I even received the telltale 'Gas Prices Are Rising' text from a local convenience store text program in which I'm enrolled.)

Then, Monday, I noticed the price for unleaded at several stations had increased again, and is now selling for $1.49 a gallon. Now, don't get me wrong, $1.49 a gallon is still a pretty decent price to pay-- especially since MinnesotaGasPrices.com notes that last year, we were paying $2.18 a gallon.

I checked my usual online sources Tuesday morning, but couldn't find any reason why prices here in the Med City were on the way up, especially since we've heard news that, overall, prices are expected to keep falling-- perhaps even to under a dollar a gallon. (And don't get me started on why gas prices increase by five or ten cents at at time, yet only seems to fall by a few cents at a time...)

Have you heard anything on why prices have gone up here in Rochester?