Fuel prices continued their upward trend over the last week according to the Iowa Department of Agriculture. As of Thursday, Feb. 24, a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline averaged $3.35 across the state. This is two cents higher than last week and 70 cents higher than a year ago. The national average on Wednesday was $3.54 and are expected to continue climbing as markets respond to the Ukraine/Russia conflict. However, President Biden announced Thursday he would be releasing oil from the nation’s strategic reserve to limit the impact at the pump. It was a similar story in diesel with retail prices up four cents on the week to $3.75 per gallon. That is 89 cents higher than this time last year but still 21 cents below the national average of $3.96. Wholesale ethanol and propane were unchanged at $2.16 and $1.98 per gallon, respectively. Home heating oil dropped 14 cents to $3.15 per gallon while natural gas jumped 27 cents at the Henry Hub reporting site to $4.79 per MMbtu.
