TOLEDO, Ohio — 2022 saw a lot of ups and downs in terms of prices at the pump.
Many places in northwest Ohio saw prices rise above $5 per gallon for gas during the summer months. So what should drivers expect in 2023?
On Wednesday, GasBuddy officials said they are expecting the average price of fuel to drop next year by as much as 50 cents per gallon.
However, Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, says prices could break the $4 per gallon mark come early summer.
"Starting in March, gas prices will likely rise anywhere from 10 to 20 cents a gallon over the course of about three months, and that could mean by Memorial Day or May we could see average prices close to or above the $4-a-gallon mark," De Haan said. "I'm hopeful that the $5 a gallon prices that we saw in 2022 will not repeat themselves in 2023."
Toledo's average right now is at $2.89. Prices locally have dropped about nearly 90 cents in the last six weeks.
According to GasBuddy, Americans will spend around $470.8 billion on gasoline in 2023. That's down $55 billion from 2022.
"The high price in 2023 won't be as high, and a lot of that is due to the fact that of course last year we saw the Russian war in Ukraine," De Haan said. "That introduced a lot of uncertainty combined with a lot of refinery challenges, including the refinery in Toledo being shut down."
Along with the BP Husky Oil Refinery fire in September that killed two workers, there was also a major oil refinery fire in Indiana this past summer.
Of course, unexpected events could impact the cost of gas, like the Russian war in Ukraine did in 2022.
GasBuddy is expecting diesel prices to average around $4.12 in 2023.
RELATED VIDEO