Georgia gas prices are up this week compared to a week ago. Georgia drivers are now paying an average of $2.68 per gallon for regular unleaded- 7 cents more than a week ago and 28 cents more than this time last month. However, drivers are only paying 4 cent less than this same time last year.

Motorists are paying an average of $40.20 for a full 15-gallon tank of gasoline; a discount of $2.40 from when prices were their highest last May.

“Gas prices may continue to fluctuate over the next few weeks, but will likely follow an upward trend as demand rises and the switchover to summer blend gasoline, which is more costly to produce, becomes more widespread.” said Montrae Waiters, spokesperson, AAA – The Auto Club Group. “AAA forecasts the national average should peak at around $2.75 by Memorial Day weekend.”

Unexpected and planned continued maintenance and demand increases across the nation have also contributed to the uptick. New data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed that demand skyrocketed to 9.8 million b/d last week. The estimate is approximately 700,000 b/d more than the previous week and 550,000 b/d more than the first week of April in 2018. Many market analysts expect the estimate to be revised downward when EIA releases final demand figures for April later this year, but the high estimate likely signals that 2019 could bring the highest gasoline demand rates ever recorded by EIA — potentially as early as this summer.

Compared to last week, Metro Atlanta’s average daily gas price saw a slight increase. Metro Atlanta’s current average is $2.71 per gallon, about 1 cent more than last week’s average and about 29 cents less than this same time a month ago.