Gas prices up another dime this week

The price of gas in Texas is up 10 cents this week, making Houstonist start to think that it might not be such a bad idea to start a private gas stockpile. According to the weekly AAA Texas gas price survey, the average cost of a gallon of self-serve gas in Texas is $2.83, the same as the national average. It's up 71 cents over this time last year.

According to HoustonGasPrices.com, the cheapest gallon in town today is $2.71 at the Sun Mart at 5051 Yale St. (Keep in mind, though, that it only accepts cash.) The most expensive gas is $3.09 a gallon from the Shell station at the Southwest Freeway and Chimney Rock — a repeat offender in the most expensive gas list. Maybe people at that corner are particularly well-to-do.

AAA spokesman Paul Gonzales said the gas price spike is the result of concerns over a recent decline in the U.S. gas inventories, including localized shortages of ethanol. "Within three or four weeks, refineries completing their transition should be at full production, and as many as 1 million additional barrels of gasoline per day will enter the nation's supply stream and prices should decline," he said.