By Rachel Pritchett, rpritchett@kitsapsun.com
BREMERTON — Driving is becoming more expensive in Kitsap County, with the price for a gallon of unleaded quickly rising to $3.70 Tuesday.
That’s up 12 cents from a week ago and 20 cents from a month ago, and now not that far off from an all-time local high of $4.37 on June 19, 2008.
The price of gas in Kitsap County far exceeded the national average of $3.57 a gallon Tuesday, according to auto club AAA.
Late-morning drivers were lined up waiting to get gas at the Longhouse Texaco on Highway 305 between Bainbridge Island and Poulsbo on Tuesday, possibly on reports gas prices were going to spike higher in coming days.
The price of gas is going up everywhere, thanks in part to concerns that Iran will cut off more oil to Europe, and regionally, a fire at a refinery at Cherry Point in Ferndale. But it’s highest in states along either coast and in Alaska and also in Hawaii, which had the most expensive gas at $4.25 a gallon.
States with lower cost gas are in the Midwest, generally, with Wyoming clocking in lowest Tuesday at $3.04 a gallon.
Meanwhile, oil prices have climbed to the highest level since May.
Benchmark crude rose by $2.65, or 2.6 percent, to end the day at $106.25 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That’s the highest price for oil since May 4, according to The Associated Press.
