WALLOWA COUNTY — In yet another week of turmoil in the crude oil markets, both the national and state average of regular unleaded and diesel prices continued to rise as of Tuesday, June 14.

According to the American Automobile Association, the national average for unleaded fuel has risen approximately 30 cents in a week to $4.92 a gallon, while the Oregon average shot up approximately 25 cents to $5.46 a gallon.

Diesel costs showed a similar trend, with the national average reaching $5.68 a gallon, while Oregon’s expenses broke the $6 mark hitting $6.03 a gallon.

All of these numbers are records for the country and the state.

As one might imagine, prices in Wallowa County have been going up, and it’s being felt in Enterprise.

Enterprise Chevron and Texaco both went up 10 cents from last week’s regular gasoline cash costs to $5.59. In the diesel department, Chevron is at $6.09 for cash payments and Texaco has reached $6.39 for cash payments. These are both 20-cent increases from last week.

Goebel’s Service Station in Wallowa is in the middle, charging $5.49 a gallon for regular, and $6.29 a gallon for diesel. Paul’s Service Station in Joseph has regular gas prices of $5.49 a gallon.

Despite the surge, Marie Dodds, AAA director of government and public affairs for Oregon and Idaho, has noticed that people haven’t slowed down at the pumps.

“When we look at demand for gasoline in the last week, it increased from 8.8 million barrels a day, to 9 million barrels a day,” she said.

Dodds believes that Americans may be staying on the roads because most restrictions against the COVID-19 pandemic are being lifted, providing freedoms that haven’t been available for some time.

“Now people want to get out, travel, do summer activities, meet friends and family, and do all the things they haven’t been able to do the past couple of years,” she said.

With the unknown status of prices in the future, Dodds recommends various things to increase fuel efficiency, such as removing extra weight, using credit cards with gas rebates and putting down the windows instead of turning on the air conditioning.

“With gas above $5 a gallon, it isn’t like you’re going to shave $5 off your bill, but anything can help at this point,” she said.