Conventional wisdom says the fall is the time that gas prices should be dropping, but not so in Missoula.

On Tuesday, regular unleaded took a dramatic jump from $2.99 per gallon to $3.10 per gallon at several gas stations.

Petroleum Analyst for Gas Buddy dot com Patrick DeHaan said we might want to prepare for even higher gas prices as we head into winter.

“It’s kind of a surprise, but the price of oil is up to a four year high,” said DeHaan. “That’s because of OPEC deciding not to increase production as President Trump suggested they do in a tweet last week. We’re seeing lower oil production, and that’s drive the price to a four year high.”

DeHaan explained the dramatic one-day price increase.

“We’ve seen the price of oil shoot from $65 a barrel to $72 a barrel,” he said. “What you may be seeing is that retailers and distributors may not have passed along the price increase, or they were trying to hold off on passing that along, but you can only do that for so long.”

DeHaan said the notion that gas prices would decrease this fall has been shot down by OPEC.

“OPEC has been making comments that are driving up oil prices even more, so we could be looking at a fall where we’ll see very little relief, and perhaps, higher prices.”

DeHaan’s advice is to buckle up and prepare for a more expensive winter at the gas pump.

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