Gas prices continue to climb
Published 1:30 am Monday, March 16, 2026
Gas prices in Grays Harbor County continue to climb with some stations crossing the $5 per gallon threshold.
The average price for a gallon of gas in Washington is $4.89 and $4.71 in the county according to GasBuddy. The average price per gallon in Washington state was $4.44 per gallon, and $4.34 in the county on March 5.
Q-Mart II in Aberdeen boasts the cheapest gas price in the county at $4.19 per gallon, AP/PM and Safeway, also in Aberdeen, sit at $4.59 per gallon as of Monday morning.
According to a AAA press release issued on March 12, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline jumped nearly 35 cents since the week before. Prices were similar to the spring of 2024. Gasoline demand increases this time of year as the weather warms up and more drivers hit the road.
AAA’s release added that crude oil prices play a major role in what drivers pay at the pump, and prices have surpassed the $100/barrel mark multiple times in recent days. To help offset rising prices, the U.S. announced it will release 172 million barrels of oil from its strategic reserves over four months. The move is part of a broader effort by the International Energy Agency to release a total of 400 million barrels of oil, the largest emergency release in its history.
According to March 16 GasBuddy blog, the nation’s average price of gasoline has risen 23.2 cents over the last week and stands at $3.68 per gallon, according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 12 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country. The national average is up 80 cents from a month ago and is 66 cents per gallon higher than a year ago. The national average price of diesel rose 34 cents in the last week and stands at $4.95 per gallon.
“Consumers continue to feel the sting of rising oil, gasoline, and diesel costs as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East remain elevated, pushing gasoline prices to their highest levels in years while diesel could soon approach the $5-per-gallon mark nationally,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “Until we see a meaningful resumption of oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, upward pressure on fuel prices is likely to persist. At the same time, seasonal forces are beginning to intensify as several regions complete the transition to summer gasoline, creating a double headwind that could continue driving pump prices higher in the weeks ahead.”
